I have visited Bodnant in Summer when the flowers were rich in bloom, but this time we visited in that vague borderland when Winter is seguing into Spring and the land slowly awakens with life, when the crocuses and snowdrops make their triumphant announcement of the renewal of the ongoing cycle of existence. The purple crocuses were the first plants that called on our attention, followed by Galanthus,the white snowdrops, which in the British Isles are the ubiquitous, early signs of the first awakenings of Spring. There were also pulmonaria, small, lavender coloured tongues with a deep yellow zone in the centre of the leaf.
But the shrubs seem to be coming to life. Daphne filled the air with its scent, and the three ladies with us, Maureen, my daughter Helen and Ester, Helen's mother-in-law, soon picked out the scents and stopped to sniff the blooms. Daphne odora margineata has a gentle, enticing scent that lingered on the air before we reached the plant. The baby slept on, wrapped warm inside a baby sling and showed no interest in the scents.
There is a well designed network of paths that take visitors around the gardens between flower beds, shrubs and trees. I could not resist stopping to talk to a gardener to ask what they were doing. She replied that they were mulching the flower beds. Still curious I had to ask what the mulch was and was told leaves and compost that the gardeners make themselves. Maureen smiled and said nothing, she has known me long enough to know my curiosity about gardens.
There is a rich variety of trees, both deciduous and conifer, including some giant redwood, which seem to be popular in nineteenth century estate gardens. One stood towering over the garden. I tried to get a photo but I was too close to get anything other than part of the trunk.
Early on in the walk we were met by a robin, this time a male that landed on one of the beds.Was this a harbinger of Spring? By no means, for the annunciation of Spring can only come from migratory birds, while the robin is a hardy year round resident, a sign of not the cycle of nature but its enduring presence in times of cold and dark.
Comments
Thanks for this Veronica. Over here it is an early flowering shrub, but it is beaten in the race to be first by certain perennials, snowdrops and crocus.
Yes, Bodnant Gardens actually sells Forsythia plants.
As British plant collectors have ranged the globe Forsythia is found in many plant collections, including the Mansion Garden in Sussex, one of England's southernmost counties.
Derdriu
Frank is in Portugal at the moment so I am sure he will answer fully when he gets back.
I have a Forsythia in my back garden. I love it but here it is not the first sign of spring. The snow drops and daffodils are the fist sign of spring here . The Forsythia comes later. We are of course in NW England and it is rather cold here for most of the year. I am unsure as to how soon Forsythia blooms in other parts of UK.
frankbeswick, Is forsythia at Bodnant or anywhere else in the United Kingdom? It's considered the first sign of spring in many parts of the United States.
The gardens have plants for as much of the year as possible. I could only show Spring in this article, but I have visited in Summer and it is beautiful.
Nice images. Do they also have flowering plants in other seasons? I have visited gardens a week too late, and spring is the only great season in many.
The robin is in Britain a year round resident, so it might turn up at any time. One follows me on the allotment when I am digging, seeking for worms and grubs.
Yes, I think that you would love Bodnant. It is not so large that you cannot get round it easily, and the walks have variety , as they ascend and descend the hill side and roam past the water feature. The cafe in the main buildings is open when the estate is open, but the little cafe down by the mill is closed out of the main season. But you would love to eat there, sitting by the lake in the shelter of the trees besides the old mill.
Looks like my kind of place. I love the snowdrops, but I'd also want the cafe to be open, and the robin (which in the part of the world I live right now is a harbinger of spring).
No, I took them myself. My deficiency in visual skill is confined to drawing, though I have with great effort made some progress in that field over the years.