Bodnant Garden

I first visited Bodnant Garden eighteen years ago when my eldest grandson was a baby. We had a holiday with our daughter, son in law and the baby in a lovely old cottage in the depths of the Welsh countryside near Conwy.  My daughter and I went off with the baby one day to visit the gardens. We had a lovely day and really enjoyed the gardens. Ever since then I've wanted to revisit the place and as my husband didn't go with us the first time I thought he would enjoy the garden too.

The opportunity came recently when we were trying to organise a few days away. Where should we go? So I came up with the idea of staying somewhere near Bodnant Garden so we could visit.  We ended up staying in Betws y Coed which was a good base for a few other places we wanted to visit and was less than 30 minutes away from the gardens.

Bodnant Garden covers 80 acres and has about 8 miles of paths to explore, some of them steep, uneven and with steps.We picked up a map when we went in which gave us a couple of options of easy routes to take. A blue path and a red path. So, between the two of us having arthritis, foot, knee and back problems we went for the red path which was on fairly level paths, no steps and was the shorter route of the two. 

 This path took us round the formal areas of the garden. We started our walk near the house, which with its sweeping lawns dominates the formal part of the gardens. The hot border greeted us as we entered the garden. There were the reds, yellows and oranges of Crocosmia, Red hot pokers, Dahlias, Rudbeckias, Lilies and more. There were some lovely yellow ones which I couldn't identify.

We came across a fountain with  flower beds radiating from it to form a circular bed. I wasn't very impressed with this, there was nothing very striking about the flowers to enhance the look of the fountain. It was quite  dull looking as all the flowers had gone over. Perhaps it needed other flowers to follow on to keep it looking good.

There are some very old, interesting trees in the garden. I love trees, especially old ones which have developed a character with unusual branch structure. We found one which was propped up, another which had a sign on saying, 'sorry, no climbing'.  I thought about our grandchildren and how when they were younger used to love a good climbing tree. Another tree had a lovely red bark, very tactile looking. It was so tempting to stroke it but it was labelled 'please do not stroke the bark as it could cause further damage and shorten the life of the tree'. I didn't want to knock any years off it's life so I admired it from a distance.

I was pleased to see my favourite 'Gertrude Jekyll ' rose in the  big rose garden. Here large beds were filled with different varieties of roses. I'm not usually a fan of rose gardens but this one was good it was well laid out and smelled lovely and not just of roses.

In this area was a series of terraces. At the bottom of the rose garden we looked down onto a lower level which wasn't on our red route, but our legs were feeling ok so we descended the steps to have a look. This was not just to look at the lower level  but also to move away from a conducted garden  tour which we kept getting tangled up with.  

Down to a another terrace garden where a rill flowed to a big, formal pool in the middle. I thought there may have been black dye in the water as you couldn't see below the surface. On the surface we spotted water boatmen swimming around and mayflies flitting backwards and forwards. Also on the surface waterlilies were in flower. My garden and allotment ponds are too small for waterlilies so I love to see them when I visit other gardens. 

We looked over the wall and down below on the next level looked very interesting with more water and a building which the map told us was called the 'Pin Mill'. I wanted to see more of this but we decided to carry on following the red route and find a way down to the Pin Mill later.

We came to a shady area with huge groups of hostas and followed the path through a woodland area. The path doubled back on itself and we came off it to find a way back to the Pin Mill. We could see how steep the garden was at this point as we looked down to a beautiful area called 'The Dell', which had the river running through. Down in the Dell was an old mill, which seemed to be doing refreshments. It was a good toilet stop and we thought we might be able to get some lunch. No such luck as they were closed for lunch!  However it was a very scenic area and a nice place to sit down for a few minutes. It was a bit of a steep climb back up to the path, but our legs were still working. 

This path brought us to the Pin Mill where there was another water feature with more waterlilies and colourful herbaceous borders. This was another good place to sit, have a rest and take in the beautiful surroundings. 

From here we headed back to find somewhere to get some lunch. On the way we came across a pond (there seemed to be a lot of water features at Bodnant). The pond was circular with a brick edge and the garden around it was really colourful, almost tropical looking. We had seen it from a higher level when we were walking along the lawn area earlier and I had wondered how you got down to it.

We found the National Trust cafe next to the garden centre and had a very nice lunch of soup and a cheese scone. 

One place which I remembered from my first visit years ago was the Laburnum Arch. We hadn't come across it so far on our meanders and it wasn't marked on the map, so we asked for directions. The arch is apparently quite spectacular when the laburnum is in flower, but it was July so we had missed it. It is quite a long archway and we could imagine how amazing it would have been a few weeks earlier when the laburnum was in flower.

We had done a lot of walking and our legs were beginning to give up on us, so it was time to go. Before that I had to look around the garden centre because I do love a good plant centre.  Of course, because  I can't resist a plant, I bought a couple, a gaura , I love them and hadn't seen any on sale near home and a decent sized pot of rosemary which I had only seen in small pots at home and I use it a lot in cooking. I don't normally buy plants when we are on holiday because I think they might not be suited to our garden conditions up here in Lancashire. But I decided anything which will grow in the Welsh mountain areas will grow in our garden. Next to the garden centre and shop were some craft units selling paintings, pottery, jewellery etc. I do like a craft shop so I had to look of course. 

We enjoyed visiting Bodnant Gardens but there was still a lot more to see. That gives us a good reason to return another time and see more. Perhaps we can time our next visit for when the Laburnum arch is in flower. Bodnant Gardens is owned by the National Trust and is near Colwyn Bay, Conwy, North Wales

Through the garden gate--April

Back in October I celebrated my 70th birthday and my daughters gave me garden vouchers, which is one of the best presents to buy me. Stocking a new garden with plants can be expensive and although I brought a lot of plants with me from my old garden there are still other plants which I would like.

I really wanted another tree for the garden and after much time spent looking at trees in garden centres I finally decided on a crab apple--crab apple 'Evereste' is the one I bought.  I like crab apples because they have blossom in the Spring, good autumn colour and fruits which the birds love.

When we planted the tree a few weeks ago it had lots of deep pink blossom buds on it. It finally burst into flower at Easter with beautiful white blossom. It has been the star of the garden during April and is still looking good.

Underneath the tree are two pots of tulips which I planted up last autumn.  They are lovely shades of white and pink and look lovely next to the white apple blossom. It's funny how sometimes plant combinations work well even when they were unintentionally put together.

The amelanchier has also been flowering during April and was a joy to see.  Outside our house on the grass verges lining the road are trees full of pink blossom. April must be the month for blossom.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Some welcome shade at the allotment

Having overhanging trees on the allotment is not what everyone wants and I have often complained about it, wishing we could have them cut down. But during this spell of hot weather the shade they provide has been quite welcome.

It has been too hot to work in the garden, so one day we escaped to the allotment to do some work under the big sycamore tree. We call this area the woodland garden. We can't grow anything here because of the tree, the slope and all the roots in the soil. When the grandchildren were younger it was their den. We now have a sitting area and a bug hotel there and use some of the space for storage. There are also a couple of little flower beds where I grow woodland and shade loving plants.

It was all very dry looking, a lot of the elder and privet needed cutting back and the weeds were beginning to take over.

It was a little cooler working under the tree and by the time we had cut every thing back we could actually see the sky.

I'd  thought I would get some wood chippings to cover the ground when we'd finished, but lucky for us we didn't need to buy any as someone dumped a big pile of them for the allotment holders to help themselves to. It looks much better now. I left our grandson's old den there, I couldn't get in there myself but I rather like it.

   

Our new garden project 4--planting up the beds

Gardening experts always say that when you move into a new house not to touch the garden for a year to see what plants are growing and what the soil conditions are etc. We haven't done that with our new garden as the back garden was just lawn. There were no trees or shrubs--nothing. So we were able to get started straight away.

As we continued with our plans for the new garden, I spent time thinking what to plant where. There were problems with the soil as I mentioned in previous blogs. In our last garden we had a lot of shade so I always had to bear that in mind when buying new plants. In this garden there is more sun, still some shady areas and heavy clay soil which retains water. So I have had to think about these conditions when planting. I did a lot of reading up on the best plants to grow in moist conditions and I now have a long list. 

When the seating area and raised beds were completed at the end of the summer last year, I decided it was time to start planting up the beds.  Those raised beds looked so good filled up with soil and the good thing was that they didn't have the problem with the water that some of the other areas of the garden have.  I had brought some plants with me from our old house, I bought plants in plant sales, I had garden gift vouchers given to me for my birthday, I explored all the local garden centres. For months after we moved in there were pots set out in the borders, whilst I decided the best places to plant them all. Much as I wanted to get plants in the garden, I often felt daunted by it all not wanting to make any mistakes. But mistakes don't matter because plants can always be moved if they are in the wrong place.

We wanted to plant some trees for height and structure so the first to be planted was the trees. We bought a Silver birch, a Rowan, an Amelanchier and a Liquidamber. I also had a contorted willow in a pot given to me by a friend a few years ago which I decided to plant in the ground. I was so excited when the trees were delivered. It's lovely to be able to have your own choice of trees instead of being stuck with something which came with the garden and you may not like.  I love silver birch, as well as the lovely white bark they are a really graceful tree, their small leaves creating dappled shade. Rowan has berries in the autumn, so good for the birds.

Amelanchier

The amelanchier has blossom in the spring, berries in the autumn loved by birds and good autumn colour. Liquidamber also has good autumn colour and lovely shaped leaves.

Liquidamber

Once they were all planted I put some of the shrubs in. I had read that Hydrangeas soak up water so I thought that would be a good one for our garden. Other shrubs I planted were Pittosporum for evergreen foliage, Cottinus, Fatsia, Physocarpus, Cornus.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

Trees and shrubs form the backbone of the garden, providing structure during the winter months. After these the herbaceous planting went in. There were  grasses, some tall ones for the back of the borders, some smaller for the front or middle. Grasses look good in the autumn and winter when other plants have gone over. I like grasses, there are so many different sorts, some of them are so tall they can provide screening just like shrubs can. I was able to bring some from our old garden.

As well as growing plants and shrubs that look good at different times of the year, I like to grow plants which I can cut to bring in the house, some for foliage some for their flowers, so that was another thing to think about when buying plants.

Japanese anenome

Salvia

I set out pots of plants in the borders so I could get an idea if they would look right. This took a lot of imagination. The pots got moved around several times before I finally decided I just had to make a start. Once they were in the ground they looked great and as I said before, if they are in the wrong place I can always move them. Most plants are fairly tolerant and don't mind being messed about.

I planted up the raised beds and the border down the right hand side of the garden with mixed planting--trees, shrubs and flowers. In the bottom border where all the water is I just planted the trees and shrubs for the time being as there is still work to be done down there.

The garden looked so much better with plants in, especially those around the seating area.  Well that's the first lot of planting done, there will be more to add over the year as we do more work to the garden. I want to put some climbers and wall shrubs in along the fences. Months later everything is looking ok and although the cold weather hasn't left us yet, the plants seem to be coping well.