Waxwing

Waxwing
"To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour."

From "Auguries of Innocence"

by William Blake

Thursday 31 March 2011

Spring flowers at Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens

I paid a very fleeting visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens earlier this week. Although the snowdrops have finished there was a lot of colour as more spring flowers are coming into bloom.

The very pretty flowers of Bleeding Heart





Espalier fruit tree starting to blossom



These plants - Fritilliaria Imperialis Aurora Crown Imperial - are stunning and when the flowers have finished blooming the seedheads are very impressive too





Hyacinth



There were plenty of daffodils in flower





North Orchard





Outside the main walled garden there were some dandelions flowering



Last year I was thrilled to find a display of Snakeshead's Fritillaries all around the West Pond and they are just starting to flower again



South Pond, wooded area and stumpery





Lesser Celandine



Marsh Marigold - we seem to have lost the few plants we had around our pond at home so it was nice to see a clump of kingcups in this pond



A view along Holly Walk towards the Summer House. This 170 metre long path hedged with variegated holly runs all the way across the Garden from the Green House to the Summer House. I read recently that these holly hedges are possibly the oldest cultivated bushes in Britain.



Finally, a clump of primroses



I failed to see any butterflies but there were plenty of blackbirds, great and blue tits, robins, magpies, crows and wood pigeons to keep me company as I strolled around.

The Summer Season at the Gardens opens this weekend for more details of the gardens, opening hours and admission prices please visit:

www.cbhgt.org.uk

8 comments:

The Quacks of Life said...

lovely pics. nice to suddenly see so much colour isn't it

Ragged Robin said...

Thanks Pete.

The colour just seems to appear almost overnight. I love this time of year :D.

Laura Nolte said...

Lovely spring pictures indeed!

Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens said...

Thank very much for your continued support of the Gardens. I hope you don't mind, but I have linked your blog to our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

All the best - Graham High / CBHGT.

Ragged Robin said...

Laura - Thank you - glad you like the spring photos.

Graham - That's fine. I am not sure how many of the people who visit the blog are local but I do hope the CBHG posts encourage people to visit the Gardens so that they can share the pleasure I get from my visits.

Ragged Robin said...

Hi again Graham

I've just found your CBHG blog - great idea btw - and hope its ok if I add it to my blog list. All the best. Caroline

Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens said...

Hi Caroline,

It was your blog that gave me the idea to have a go at one for the gardens in the first place.

Thanks for your help, patronage, and support. Best wishes, Graham :-)

Ragged Robin said...

I think its a great way to raise the profile of the Gardens and you've done a great job on the layout. The twitter idea is a good one too Graham

I look forward to reading future postings and will rack my brains in the coming weeks to try and think of a contribution myself :D.

Keep up the good work.

Best wishes Caroline