A Walk in the gardens April 2007

We had some glorious weather in April and judging by the photos I have taken the season is about a week further on than last year. Because of the dry weather some flowers didn’t last very long. Having said that the camellias have had a very long flowering period and some are still flowering.

Many Rhododendrons were flowering in April but this month I want to talk about some of other plants that are in the gardens. But first I must mention the evergreen Azaleas which are putting on a great show just now. In the north walled garden there is a bed of Kurume Azaleas ranging in colour from white through various shades of pink to red. There are also many different varieties in the south walled garden. This one is called Hollandia. We had some glorious weather in April and judging by the photos I have taken the season is about a week further on than last year. Because of the dry weather some flowers didn’t last very long. Having said that the camellias have had a very long flowering period and some are still flowering.

Many Rhododendrons were flowering in April but this month I want to talk about some of other plants that are in the gardens. But first I must mention the evergreen Azaleas which are putting on a great show just now. In the north walled garden there is a bed of Kurume Azaleas ranging in colour from white through various shades of pink to red. There are also many different varieties in the south walled garden. This one is called Hollandia.

Along the walled walk outside the walled garden an Acer is making a splash of colour with its new bronzy red leaves and towards the end beside the door into the walled garden is an Osmanthus with its dark green leaves and small fragrant white flowers.
In the north west corner of the walled garden there is a Stachyurus chinensiswith its sprays of small yellow bell-shaped flowers. and Echium fastucosum.I am fascinated by this plant and have taken several photos of it since march when it first started to flower.    Also in the walled garden is a shrub Euphorbia mellifera that smells deliciously of honey! And Berberis darwinii with its pretty orange flowers and horrid prickly leaves!

Outside the walled garden again and in Hugh’s border (or maybe it’s Islay’s border. No-one seems to be quite sure which is which!) Pieris Forest Flame is not actually flowering but living up to it’s name with it’s bright new foliage.

Elsewhere in the gardens Azara lanceolata is flowering and Drymis winteri latifolia near the pond garden. Down near the bottom of the garden near to the main road I found a clump of Erythronium and all through the woodlands candelabra primulas. And judging by the flowers on the horse chestnut trees there should be a good crop of conkers this year!



In the theatre garden and triangle areas there are several flowering cherry trees but you need to look upwards to see the blooms as the trees have grown so tall. I knew that there had been several trees in this area as one of the first jobs I did when I came to work in the gardens for Sir James was to help him prune them after he had received instructions from his great friend “Cherry Ingram”. I had thought that most of them had succumbed to winter gales over the years until walking in the garden this month and the ground was covered with fallen blooms. So the moral of this tale is to look upwards as well as round about you or you may miss something spectacular!