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Garden Blog – Spring is Sprung

We hadn’t been to the National Botanic Garden of Wales for the last two or three of weeks because we had been to the Canary Islands soaking up the sun – well someone’s got to do it, and we very kindly brought the sun back with us.  After I had finished my volunteer jobs this week I thought I would go walk about to see what was happening in and around the Garden.  It was a pleasure to be back and to see how much it had blossomed.  The beautiful puya had bloomed whilst we were away and is just stunning.  It shouldn’t be too long now before we see what the others will be like when they come into flower. 

 

I went to have a look at the Bog Garden and it is gradually waking up.  The skunk cabbage and the ranunculus give a lovely splash of colour with the deep red foliage of the astilbe making a good contrast.  The gunnera flowers are looking good and lots of other plants are beginning to make their presence felt.  It’s a very good time of year.  The Apothecary’s Garden is also waking up with various plants showing their new growth and the Sorbus Leyana that is up in the Welsh rare plants bed has flowers just waiting to burst forth.

On our return from holiday we have noticed how good the wild flowers are this year.  The blackthorn was thick with its beautiful white flowers; there are violets and primroses aplenty, loads of cowslips, and bluebells in unexpected places. Speaking of which, we went to Pont Felin Gat to see what the bluebell situation is and I can report that they are out.  There is a haze of blue over the woodland floor but by the Easter weekend they will be even more out, even more blue and even better.  We’ve already seen red campion and greater stitchwort in the hedgerows.  The white flowers that can be seen on the verges and motorway embankments are cuckoo flower or lady’s smock and together with the much maligned dandelion they make a lovely sight.  As I walked around the Garden I noticed the ferns unfurling and my husband thought that these hart’s tongue ferns in the photo look like meercats. (I have a lot of trouble with him).

The wildlife at the Garden, at the moment, is mostly the winged variety.  The swallows are back – always a good sign – and I saw a nuthatch, a dipper and a little warbler that wouldn’t keep still long enough for us to identify him – thoughtless bird. All the usual candidates are there – blackbirds, robins, chaffinches, sparrows and jackdaws et al.  We got quite excited about quite a large bird sitting in a tree but it turned out to be a wood pigeon.  We did hear an owl on our way to Pont Felin Gat and no, it wasn’t a pigeon and it was only about 4.45pm.  We also saw a very pretty male orange tip butterfly.

All in all I think we can safely say that spring is sprung. 

Pam Murden