Winter Colour

Yesterday wasn't a brilliant day weather wise but I decided to risk the forecast rain and head up to Anglesey Abbey for a spot of winter colour.

First of all I walked up to the water mill,

then through into the Winter Garden.  The birches were almost glowing.

Round the corner come the dogwoods - many different species and colours

The snowdrops were just starting to appear

The grass heads work well with the red dogwood stems.

And I just love this hedge of dogwood!

The garden isn't just about colour though, it also champions winter scent.

It's a place that's worth visiting at any time of the year, but especially on a winter day.

My Favourite Combination

I think that this must be my favourite combination in the garden at the moment.

I'm not sure what variety the tulips are, but they look lovely underneath the Exochorda. When I moved here I didn't know what it was as it had been badly pruned and was just a single stem, I'm very glad I left it in though as the white flowers look so beautiful with the tulips.

Maybe tomorrow there'll be a break in the showers so I can sit and have a cup of tea and gaze at them, rather than rushing past in an attempt to not get wet!

Autumn Jewels

When I was teaching we used to sing a song in assembly that started "Autumn days when the grass is jewelled", and my garden is definitely jewelled at the moment.

My beautiful snake-bark maple tree's leaves are turning glorious colours,

they lie in piles covering the paths and beds,

and sometimes rest for a while on other shrubs,

a tiny respite in their final journey.

A Rainbow of Colours

It's raining here today, and the sky is very grey so I thought I'd cheer things up with a rainbow of colours from the garden (taken on a sunnier day!).

RED - forgotten variety of strawberry!

ORANGE - Runner Bean 'Enorma' flowers

YELLOW - Sisyrinchium

  

GREEN - Rudbeckia Occidentalis 'Green Wizard'

BLUE - Delphinium Magic Fountains 'Dark Blue Bee'

INDIGO - Aquilegia vulgaris 'Miss M.I. Huish'

VIOLET - Scabiosa 'Butterfly Blue'

There - now that's better than grey skies isn't it?