Dyffryn Gardens in two seasons

Low winter sunlight at Dyffryn Gardens in January 2015

Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan has just been voted the top Special Place in Wales in a National Trust survey. I went there on January 2 this year, but never did get around to blogging about it. I visited again on July 7, so now I am combining the two visits into a series of blog posts on different themes. This first one contrasts the garden treasures of midwinter and midsummer.

Dyffryn House in winter

Dyffryn House in summer

Dyffryn Gardens have been under the stewardship of the National Trust since January 2013 and obviously it is a long job to get it back to its former Edwardian glory after seven decades of council control – finances gradually dwindled for local authorities in the UK during this time.

I’ll say more about the history when I share my pictures of the interior of the house in another blog post, but in summary, the present house was built in the last decade of the 19th century and the first decade of the 19th, under the ownership of coal-owner and ship-owner John Cory. When he died in 1910 his son Reginald took over development of the gardens. Reginald was big in the Royal Horticultural Society and sponsored plant-hunting expeditions which brought back choice specimens for his growing botanical gardens.

Dyffryn Gardens in winter

The same area of the gardens in summer

After Reginald Cory died the house passed to his sister, Florence, for a few years, but when she died it was sold to landowner Sir Cennydd Traherne, a famous name in these parts, who became Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan. He soon leased the property to the council and when he died in the 1990s his nephew sold the freehold to the council.

Our January 2015 visit was the first in decades – our previous day out there had been in 1990, the council-run era when there was even a butterfly house in the gardens and it was all very jolly.

As members of the National Trust we get in “free” and some would say that on a day in the middle of winter there isn’t much to see at Dyffryn Gardens, but I always find little “treasures”.

Beautiful fungus, possibly Trametes versicolor, on a tree stump in January

Bright beech leaves in January

Male catkins of a silk tassel bush, Garrya elliptica, at Dyffryn in January

I always recognise Garrya, as I came across it when researching plants named after people. It’s named after Nicholas Garry (1781-1856) of the Hudson Bay Company, a friend of the plant collector David Douglas, who introduced Garrya from North America to Europe in 1827.

However, this next shrub was new to me…

An evergreen shrub with what looked like pink lacquered flowers in January

When I looked at the picture later I reached for my Dr D G Hessayon’s Flowering Shrub Expert book. I often search in this, looking at every page of the alphabetical guide to see if I can recognise the picture. It didn’t take long this time. It was the first entry – Abelia. It’s probably Abelia x grandiflora, known as “glossy abelia”. Interestingly it has trumpet-shaped flowers, but when they fall the pink sepals remain – which is what I saw…

Sepals of Abelia

Had I been more organised, I would have taken pictures from exactly the same positions in winter and summer, for comparison. But I wasn’t. However, I hope these will give a general idea of the changing seasons…

Time’s Arrow in winter…

…Time’s Arrow in summer

But nearby in winter there was also wonderful moss in fruit…

Moss in winter

Bare arches of the vinery in winter…

Vinery arches in summer

The area nearby in winter…

…and in summer

I love a good archway in winter…

…and a different one in summer

Winter greenery is subtle

Winter buds of Magnolia campbellii ‘Lanarth’

A view over the back of Dyffryn House from the gardens in winter

In summer the colour is more obvious, but Dyffryn Garden is not one of those places abounding in herbaceous borders. I did snap some blooms…

I wish this could be a scratch and sniff picture, as the perfume of these old-fashioned roses was wonderful!

That old faithful Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’

My first thought was Viburnum, but of course I was wrong. Thanks to Diana in Cape Town, who I can always depend on to identify garden plants for me. She recognised it as a heliotrope and I think it is probably Heliotropium arborescens – I won’t forget that one again, it’s lovely…

I took a picture of this fading foxglove at Dyffryn purely because I have seen so many around along roadsides this summer but hadn’t been able to stop to capture them

The labels nearby were for Paeonia suffruticosa and Paeonia ludlowii, but I didn’t believe this fat pod belonged to a peony. But thanks to Hollis in Wyoming, who confirmed that peony pods DO look like this!

Going back to the pictures from my winter visit, something I failed to find when I returned in summer was a steamy glasshouse full of cacti and orchids. I probably just wasn’t trying hard enough…

Orchid in the winter glasshouse

These lovely cactus balls were labelled Mammillaria bombycina

And finally, anyone recognise this small bird feather picked up on my July visit? It is pale brown, slightly barred and with a white spot…

Mystery feather…

If you missed it at the top of this post, click on the picture below to go to the story about Dyffryn gardens becoming the top Special Place in Wales…

TV presenter Matt Johnson led the campaign that won Dyffryn Gardens the vote as top Special Place in Wales