Aberglasney House in mid April
We often visit Aberglasney House and Gardens in Carmarthenshire and we have season tickets, even though the place is a long way from our home in Cardiff.
I have previously shared my pictures of Aberglasney in summer and in winter, but this was our first visit in spring. Usually we are spring-cleaning the house at Easter but this time we did some gallivanting instead.
Aberglasney has a wide range of different gardens, both formal and informal, and is developing new areas of the site all the time. Here are some of the plants we enjoyed this time…
Walled kitchen garden
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Apple blossom – one of many Malus varieties grown in cordons around the vegetable beds
Apples are also grown over these arches
I was surprised to find this honeywort – Cerinthe major purpurascens – in flower so early. It went through a very fashionable moment a decade or so ago and I even managed to grow some from seed myself. I love it…
I should recognise this, but I can’t name it…
A pretty black/dark-red leaved cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris), maybe ‘Ravenswing’ or something similar…
Foam flower (Tiarella), a close relative of Heuchera
Upper walled garden
The conical topiary bushes in the formal garden have been cut back to sticks…
Architectural leaves – I think cardoon (artichoke thistle)
I had to look this one up – spikes of Camassia, a member of the asparagus family
I love spurges (Euphorbia)
Another Euphorbia…
…with a reddish fly
Alpine garden and Bishop Rudd’s Walk
Among the primroses on the shady bank were flowers of glory of the snow (Chionodoxa)
A mound of blue flowers…
…not sure about the ID, perhaps Lithodora, a member of the borage family?
These are surely related to speedwell (Veronica)
These beautiful, firm, yellow flowers turned out to be Tulipa turkestanica
I think this wonderful ground cover is Epimedium
Shade-loving Erythronium
This intriguing shade plant was labelled – Trillium kurabayashii
This pure white flower is, I think, Anemone nemorosa ‘Alba Plena’
I really can’t think what this is, although it reminds me of Hamamelis
Pale yellow Magnolia…
…quite an unusual colour
Lush moss and ivy on a big maple or sycamore tree
Rotting wood
I’m not sure about the species of this primrose, possibly a pink form of Primula sikkimensis, the Sikkim cowslip…
…but I’m pretty sure this is a drumstick primrose or Himalayan primrose, Primula denticulata
I have one of these in my own garden – the deciduous yellow azalea Rhododendron luteum
The new garden
I’m not sure what this new area of planting is going to be called but it shows how the gardens at Aberglasney are always moving forward thoughtfully…
I was intrigued by this white-flowered tree…
…very different from the dogwoods grown for their coloured branches, this is Cornus florida – and the white ‘petals’ are actually bracts, with the tiny flowers sitting in the centre
Newly planted Skimmia japonica ‘Pabella’
New Rhododendron ‘Frosthexe’
New dwarf Rhododendron ‘Night Sky’ – an unusual colour
And finally…
Hellebores can be frustrating as they hang their heads…
…but some clever person displayed these lovely hellebore flowers in a shallow bowl of water in the ladies’ loos at Aberglasney – what a brilliant touch!
The Squirrelbasket 
You’ve helped me identify another flower Pat … Over the Easter break I took photos in Bournemouth gardens and loved (what I now know!) is Erythronium.
Thank you for the photo tour 🙂
If you are anything like me you will have forgotten again next time you see one!
All the best 🙂
hahaha yes!
One of my favourite gardens, I wish we lived closer. I am sure you are right with the ID of the witch hazel. Those flowering dog woods are beautiful.
I really didn’t think I was right with the witch hazel. Is that what it goes like when the long red or yellow strips drop off, I wonder?
And yes, now I can recognise flowering dogwoods, they are rather super.
All the best 🙂
Alarming to cut the topiaries back to bare wood!
Yes, I must look into that. The head gardener is wonderful, so there must have been a reason…
Best wishes 🙂