First garden visit of 2019 - Brightwater Gardens - snowdrops and friends

Last Sunday, my garden visiting friends Katy and Alison and I headed out for our annual pilgrimage to see snowdrops.  This is the start of the gardening season for us and we always look forward to it.  We were undecided where to go as there were quite a few snowdrop gardens open locally.  In the end, we plumped for Brightwater Gardens .  It is a relatively recent garden but every time we visit, there is something else to see.  There aren't the ancient wooded areas that some places are lucky to have, but we found plenty to enjoy.  Above is a lovely area full of white crocuses.

This wooded area was really beautiful.

 The snowdrops were nodding in the breeze (and I was glad I had taken my woolly hat!)

 A lot of planting has taken place.

 There were crocuses enjoying the sunshine.

 They just say 'Spring', don't they? (Even though it is still Winter).

 The cornus Midwinter Fire was shining brilliantly in the sun.

 Different coloured stems of cornus and willow were working well in this border.

 There were some hellebores...

 ...with different shades of purple.

 We hadn't noticed this little group under the tree before - Badger, Toad and Ratty -  but where was Mole?

 There he is, on the left.

 The crocus bank was full of colour.

 One garden I glanced at had me intrigued by the pale blue flowers.  When we got closer, we found they were clumps of irises in pale blue and creamy white/green, with the beautiful speckled markings.

 One of my favourite gardens, surprisingly, as it has such a meditative and peaceful feeling once yo are inside.  Hedges, pleached trees and grass are the only ingredients.

Looking through the vegetable gardens with a vista which draws the visitor onward.
We had a lovely visit and it was a perfect start to the garden visiting year.

First garden visit of the year 2017 and more of my plants

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.

First garden visit of 2013

This was my first garden visit of the year and it was to The Garden House, Saxby, for their snowdrop opening. I hadn't visited the garden this early in the year before, so was excited to see what it looked like without the exuberant planting of the summer.  One of the owners said he was a bit disappointed that the crocuses weren't as far along as last year...

 ...but with a bit of sunshine, there were lots of little patches or yellow, cream, white and purple in the grass.

 The snowdrops were beautiful and I noticed that there were some interesting varieties, such as this one  - Viridapice, I think.  The delicate green markings extend to the outer petals in this one.

 To add a touch of warmth, just look at the fiery tones of Cornus Midwinter Fire (I think), which were a real showstopper in the Winter border.

 One of lovely vistas in the garden, looking up towards the urn, with the lavender flanking the path.

 The large pots have been planted with hyacinths this year (the other owner told us that the tulips they planted last year did not enjoy the extremely warm weather in March and April and they hoped the hyacinths would be happier).  You can just see the tips of green in the pots and in a week or two, they'll look beautiful. Another view, leading down to the water feature, with a very pleasing repetition of pots and topiary.

The diamond pattern of the paving shows up beautifully and there are lots of green shoots in the border.

 I love the formality of the hard landscaping which is really evident now.  It is softened by the topiary spirals and the copper beech pyramids, giving structure all through the year and an effective backdrop for the other plants here. 

 This Tudor gardener is usually hidden by a rose, but here he is smiling benignly at the visitors.

 Contrasting colours of iris reticulata and danfordiae.

 The cathedral garden, still a meditative area but with a delicate tracery of branches rather than the rustle of leaves.

 Of course, I had to buy something too.  Hyacinth Blue Magic, which looks to be a really dark blue with white centres - I am looking forward to seeing it flower (as long as the return of the cold weather doesn't put it off).

 Three irises - Katherine Hodgkin, Harmony and J.S Dijt.

 They have the most beautiful markings.

We had a lovely day.