Posted in Carmarthenshire, Garden visits, Gardening, Uncategorized, tagged Carmarthenshire, Gardening, Spring on May 30, 2017| 4 Comments »
A palm tree in the Ninfarium at Aberglasney House
A few weeks ago I published some spring views of Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire, but I saved some pictures for another day. Here they are – images of the Ninfarium and the Cloister Garden, which have in common a close association between plants and old stone walls. (more…)
Posted in Carmarthenshire, Garden visits, Gardening, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Carmarthenshire, Gardening, Spring on May 20, 2017| 7 Comments »
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. (more…)
Posted in Carmarthenshire, Garden visits, Gardening, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Aberglasney, autumn, Carmarthenshire, Gardening on December 19, 2015| 12 Comments »
Rotting apples in the hollow trunk of a tree at Aberglasney
Although there was still lots of late-summer colour when we visited Aberglasney at the end of September, there was also lots of mellow fruitfulness and autumn decay. Here are a few snaps – and maybe you can identify those species that I can’t. (more…)
Posted in Carmarthenshire, Garden visits, Gardening, tagged Aberglasney, Carmarthenshire, Gardening on December 14, 2015| 14 Comments »
Small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on Verbena bonariensis at Aberglasney, late September 2015
It wasn’t that long ago that we visited Aberglasney House and Gardens in Carmarthenshire, but it now seems a whole season away. We last went in late September, when there were still so many flowers in bloom. So I am going to share them here. There were also signs of autumn change and decay, but I will put those in a second blog post. (more…)
Posted in Birds, Uncategorized, Wildfowl, tagged Carmarthenshire, wildfowl, winter on January 16, 2015| 18 Comments »
A pair of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos) picking up scattered corn from the icy surface of a pond at WWT Llanelli
We always try to make a midwinter journey to the Llanelli Wetland Centre and this time it was an icy day, which made the ducks and geese eager to take the corn we offered.
It’s a bit slippery for this European goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)…
Posted in Carmarthenshire, Garden visits, Gardening, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Aberglasney, Carmarthenshire, Gardening, winter on January 8, 2015| 24 Comments »
Icicles hang over the stone arch in this view from the Cloister Garden to the pool at Aberglasney
We love visiting Aberglasney Gardens in Carmarthenshire and it’s a bonus when the weather conditions are a bit out of the ordinary. A week ago, on probably the coldest day of winter so far, there was frost at dawn and to our delight it lasted all day, with the gardens glinting with icy diamonds everywhere. Here are some of my pictures – where I caption them “Mystery #1” etc, I invite you to help me to identify the plants!
Posted in History, Nature, Uncategorized, tagged Carmarthenshire, Spring, Wales on April 1, 2013| 8 Comments »
Primroses beside the old canal at Pembrey in April 2006…
It’s April now, and icy as midwinter here in Wales. Spring’s growth has been set back a few weeks and my thoughts turn to an earlier and warmer Spring, when we walked beside the old canal at Pembrey, near Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.
Footpath beside the old canal at Pembrey…
These pictures were taken in (more…)
Posted in Birds, Carmarthenshire, Nature, Uncategorized, Wales, Wildfowl, tagged birds, Carmarthenshire, wildfowl on January 11, 2013| 14 Comments »
Mr and Mrs mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) at Llanelli WWT, late December 2012
Although we are now starting a colder and drier spell – maybe with snow on the way – we have had nothing but rain for months. Ideal if you have webbed feet!
So we recently made one of our regular trips to the Wildfowl & Wetland Trust reserve in Llanelli. At this time of year the (more…)
Posted in Garden visits, Gardening, Nature, tagged Aberglasney, Carmarthenshire, Gardening, winter on January 27, 2012| 10 Comments »
Low winter sun over the Cloister Garden at Aberglasney
I always try to visit Aberglasney House & Gardens in Carmarthenshire at least once in winter. This January it was just (more…)
Posted in Garden visits, Gardening, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Carmarthenshire, Gardening, Wales, winter on January 11, 2012| 9 Comments »
The National Botanic Garden of Wales in January 2012 - early daffodils...
While Mediterranean flowers were in bloom in the Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in the first week of January, outside there were a few colourful surprises so early in the year.
These included daffodils, which traditionally just about manage to appear in time for St David’s Day, our national day in Wales, on March 1.
As well as these signs of spring, there were also still some of last year’s autumn leaves as well as the more usual winter Hellebores and Daphne. Three seasons in one…
The National Botanic Garden of Wales in January 2012 - 'autumn' leaves?
It has, of course, been (more…)
The Squirrelbasket 