RHS Wisley  10 April 2017

The story of RHS Garden Wisley

Wisley was given to The Royal Horticultural Society 1903, only 60 acres was a garden at the time, the remainder was wooded farmland.  George Fergusson Wilson a former treasurer of the society, created the original garden.

He established the Oakwood experimental garden after he purchased the plot in 1878.  When Wilson died in 1902 Oakwood and the adjoining Glebe Farm were sold to the wealthy Quaker owner of La Mortola, on the Italian Riviera, Sir Thomas Hanbury.  In 1903 Sir Thomas presented the Wisley estate in trust to the Society for its perpetual use.