We had the first garden visit of the year and chose possibly one of the worst days we could to visit. It was cold, drizzly, wet and windy and really not conducive to being out for any length of time, even for hardy gardeners. However, we braved the weather and went to
Brightwater Gardens, which is one of my favourite local gardens. Some of the snowdrops can be seen in the distance in the top photo, but on that day, even they weren't very keen to be out.
There is some lovely winter planting with various colours of dogwood stems.
In better weather, this would have been an enticing walk.
My hands were shaking, hence the blurry image of the sorbus berries with raindrops.
The bust of Capability Brown gazes towards the church he is said to have designed.
You can see the church better in this closer view.
In winter, you can get a very clear idea of the hard landscaping in a garden and this one has some beautiful areas which add a lot of interest.
One of my favourite parts of the garden is the 'Cathedral Garden' with the pleached trees, hedges and grass. A lovely calm space, but a bit too cold to linger here for too long on this visit.
In my own garden, the snowdrops have finally opened to show their patterns. A bit of warmth and sunshine will do wonders!
These are in a pot and I will need to divide them once they have finished flowering.
I have only noticed two double snowdrops this year and this is the one that hadn't been nibbled by something.
Along with the snowdrops, my winter flowering honeysuckle is doing well and has a beautiful scent of lily of the valley. Considering that some of the wall collapsed on it and it needed some remedial pruning, it has survived remarkably well.
More snowdrops. (They have probably been a bit battered by Storm Doris by now!)
The violas I planted last autumn greet me with their cheerful faces whenever I go in or out. They make me smile.
The colours of dogwood stems look beautiful even in the cold dark winter day. We have some dogwood in our garden, and it shows red and yellow colours, however, it grows so slow and I envy a huge number of dogwood in Brightwater Gardens.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Poirot. The dogwood is beautiful at this time of year. The display at the gardens was beautiful. I envy that too!
DeleteBest wishes
Ellie
Beautiful flowers, I love Snowdrops, I find the sight of them quite heartening on these cold, grey days. Your Violas are so colourful and pretty xx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cheryl. As you can tell, I love snowdrops too. My job this afternoon is to sort out some clumps I was given from my Mum's garden. You can never have too many, can you?
DeleteThe violas are doing really well and I hope they'll carry on being so cheerful for a few more months yet.
Best wishes
Ellie
Brightwater gardens look interesting and your photos, especially of the snowdrops are lovely. They are such a beautiful and cheering flower at this time of year:)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rosie. The gardens are beautiful and there is always something to see, with areas being developed and changed. I am still enjoying the snowdrops in my garden.
DeleteBest wishes
Ellie