A ribbon of white cascading down the valley greets our visitors in February as our mass hordes of snowdrops emerge and flower from mid-January to early March.
Our Snowdrop openings on a Wednesday and Sunday in February have proved very popular in the past few years and this year it seems to be an exceptional year with many more flowers opening. Of course our popular tearoom will be open and there will be many plants including snowdrops for sale.
Our main snowdrop is a tall growing form of Galanthus nivalis (the common snowdrop) called ‘Sam Arnott’ which seems to seed around and its slightly fragrant flowers provide the main spectacle at this time of year. Earlier the species G. atkinsii is in full sway and the common snowdrop species nivalis and its double flowered form are coming into flower to provide more colour throughout this month.
It seems an early year with other shrubs opening and the heady scent of Daphne bholua and Sarcococca fills the air on a sunny day. Elsewhere Camellias are starting to open their flowers and will continue till late April. This year we celebrate our collection with a week’s long festival of talks and walks to commemorate our 20 years of being a Garden of Excellence awarded to us by the International Camellia Society.
We were one of the first 3 gardens to gain the award in 2004 and since then another 40 gardens around the world have been chosen and awarded for their range of plants and dedication to the growing of Camellias.
Our celebration or festival runs from March 25th to March 29th with a talk about everything Camellia at 11a.m. and a walk around the garden at 2 p.m. each day, lots of other camellia activities planned as well.
Despite a wet January which has seen muddy paths and wet staff and volunteers we have got our main job of cutting back the boundary hedge completed resulting in many bonfires. Elsewhere a new path is being created in the top corner of the garden which passes several wonderful Magnolias and goes through our collection of large leaved Rhododendrons and which we have called The Nepalese Walk as it passes many plants from Nepal, Bhutan and other Himalayan locations, just to highlight where these plants come from and celebrate the great plant hunters of the past who collected them for our generations to enjoy in our own gardens. Likewise, a new area is being called The Cloud Forest which includes plants from Vietnam and Asia which grow in misty mountain passes, all to discover on your journey around the garden.
Thankfully we have had no damage from winds this year unlike other parts of Britain and has enabled us to clear many areas so new plantings can happen.
From the start of March we open 5 days a week, Wednesday to Sunday each week till the end of October and our tearoom will have a full range of teas, coffee and lunches which is a good finish to an enjoyable walk around the gardens. Not forgetting of course a visit to our plant sales which has many unusual plants all grown at the gardens.
