Dahlia "Knockout" with bees

Went to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Gardens at Wisley today with Barbara, David, Doreen and Susan. A very pleasurable day out. I surprise myself by liking Wisley as it is gardens but quite some of the best gardens I've seen. There's more than just flowers though, their vegetable garden is very interesting putting our efforts in shadow. Then there are all the fruit orchards and gardens not to mention the glasshouses.

Took us a while to get in as the shop attracted certain members of the group for a long while and once we were in it was lunchtime, but eventually we got started on the gardens.

The gardens provide lots of opportunities for photographs, too many in fact but I thought the most interesting were the close-ups as it was difficult to capture the gardens in a wider scale. It was difficult to choose today's blip but I settled for this one as there is an interesting contrast between the yellow of the flower and the dark foliage and background.

In the glasshouses there was an international exhibition of garden photography which had some marvellous shots - some just as they were taken but many were digitally enhanced afterwards. Not sure what I think about this but I've done it myself so I suppose it's acceptable. What was interesting was the time taken by some people to capture their shots, involving several visits over months and years, yet some of the best were opportunist, just happening to be in the right place at the right time with their camera.

Afternoon tea finished off the day and we were blessed with a trouble free journey home along the M25 during the rush hour.