It feels like at the moment the stormy weather is doing its best to keep us indoors and prevent snowdrop garden visiting. As the weather starts to lull it is imperative (imperative!) to get outside and get snowdrop visiting. One of my very favourite gardens to visit this time of year is Easton Walled Gardens which is one of the great 'year round' gardens with something to see every month it is open.
I always stand for a moment in this spot and enjoy my favourite view of the walled garden. I stand here and feel like Alice as she has passed through the looking glass, seeing the garden laid out in front of me. This visit you can see the sprinkling of snow to the right and where the sun has thawed it away to the left, you can see clearly how the sun travels across the gardens.
Before we reached the main snowdrops I spent a bit of time admiring the Iris reticulata flowering in the Pickery. These were perfectly paired with snowdrops.
I worried that these had been caged to stop them escaping or maybe even running amok through the gardens. A more reasonable suggestion was that they were waiting to be put on sale in the plant sales area.
The paths take you through the snowdropped areas.
There were some early daffodils making their presence felt.
and the joy of winter aconites mingling with their snowdrop neighbours.
Back into the more formal part of the garden and there are cyclamen and hellebores to enjoy.
I love a good hellebore and this one is a showstopper!
I had the most wonderful visit. An inbetween-storm visit on a chilly but mainly sunny day is a wonderful thing. Those oft-mentioned cobwebs were blown away and all felt good away from news headlines and the everyday stuff of life that must be dealt with. Snowdrop gardens are the start of the garden-visiting year and I love them dearly for this. I cannot wait to return here to Easton again as the season progresses.
Easton Walled Gardens is open daily for snowdrops 15th to 23rd February 2020 11am - 4pm. Please check the website for up to date information.
