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

Saturday 29 May 2010

Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens - Part 2

Its been a dreary, rainy day here today so I will return to my stroll around Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens earlier in the week.

I'll begin in the less formal gardens which are known as the Extra Gardens.



This is the view we get as we walk through the doorway back in the main walled Garden.



High up on the North-west Pier is a figurine of Lamia - "a creature from Greek and Roman mythology, half woman and half serpent, preying on human beings and sucking children's blood" according to the rhyme on the Pier.



This is a view of the South Kitchen Garden with part of the roof of Castle Bromwich Hall visible in the background. This vegetable garden follows a plan by Batty Langley in his book the "New Principles of Gardening" published in 1728. Old varieties of vegetables are grown today in the Kitchen Garden.



I couldn't find a label identifying this pretty pink flower but it reminds me of bistort.



Another view of the South Kitchen Garden towards herb borders along the wall where the pink flower above was growing.



Beyond the vegetable garden there is a maze and then an area of the gardens known as the Lower Wilderness as shown below.



Walking along the West Claire-voie and across the Holly Walk and Archery Ground (which I will photograph on a future visit) we enter the Upper Wilderness where I came across a beautiful Golden Chain tree in flower.



There were clumps of French Lavender throughout the gardens; many flowers attracting bumble bees.



My Lady's Border is full of perennials and will be full of colour in the summer.



Finally, two pictures of a lily. The first shows a seedhead taken last week and the last picture shows the plant flowering when I visited on 22nd April.


1 comment:

The Quacks of Life said...

looks nice place. was lousy here yesterday