Wednesday 11 March 2015

Oakwell Hall In March - Part One

My last post about Oakwell Hall was in October last year, you can read about it in my Garden Visiting In October - Part One and Garden Visiting In October - Part Two posts. At the time of that visit, the walled garden was winding down and there wasn't a lot of colour to be seen, though the trees and plants still had their leaves. At this time of year, the bare backbone of the garden is to be seen, though there's so many evergreen shrubs that it has plenty of structure.



Here we are looking back towards the Hall.
 
 
Our visit took place last Saturday, a lovely spring day. The temperature had risen and the bees from the hives in the garden were out and about busily foraging amongst the flowers. You can see some of them at the entrance to the hives.
 

No garden should be without snowdrops at this time of year and I was pleased to see plenty in the borders.



One of the beds was filled with hellebores, lots of different colours. The flowers were literally buzzing, there were so many bees amongst them.




Another plant which flowers at this time of year is pulmonaria, again, the bees were enjoying these flowers.


The apple trees in this centre bed had fruit hanging from them on our last visit.


The trained apple trees have been pruned and are looking very neat set against the brick wall. There's some wonderful varieties.

Catshead. A green/pale yellow apple with many russet dots. So named because the shape of the fruit resembles a cat's head. It's an English cooking apple which was found in England in the 1600's and can still be found in the West Midlands.


Devonshire Quarrenden. A dark red flushed apple with a pale yellow background. An old Devon variety which dates back to the late 1600's. It can still be found in old gardens today.


Lemon Pippin. This is another cooking apple, small to medium sized with yellow skin. It's believed to be English but its history is confused. Possibly introduced from Normandy. They were in England prior to 1700.


The daffodils weren't out but it won't be long, they're budding up nicely.


The crocus have been planted on a bank, it's nice to be able to see them at close hand rather than having to stoop.



Primulas have been planted near to the Hall. They give a real zap of colour at this time of year.


It's nice to see the crocosmia and sedum just starting to regrow, the garden will take on a whole new appearance a few months down the line, just has it has since my last visit.


I'll show you more of Oakwell Hall in my next post.

22 comments:

  1. I have recently become very keen on Hellebores, so I would be making a "bee-line" for them if visited that garden.

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    1. Hellebores are such pretty flowers and they're a lovely plant to have in the garden at this time of year. There was a good collection at Oakwell Hall, lots of different colours.

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  2. Spring is on it's way, so much promise, thank you for sharing your visit.

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    1. Spring is definitely on the way, it's nice to see perennials making a comeback as well as all the spring bulbs flowering.

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  3. It's nice to see a garden like this showing a few gems now, such as the snowdrops, and the promise of lots more to come.
    Lovely photos, I especially like the white crocuses. Flighty xx

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    1. There's definitely something to see in the garden the whole year round. I like those crocuses too, white with a dash of lilac.

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  4. I always think you can guess which flowers you will see when visiting a garden at this time of year, A much more restricted range that is seen later in the year

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    1. Definitely. I don't think garden visiting at this time of year is necessarily for the flowers though, this garden has a wonderful structure and still plenty to see.

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  5. I love hellebores, I am trying to build up a collection of them but they can be very pricy.

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    1. They can be quite expensive. I think the best thing is to buy small plants and grow them on yourself as the more established the plant, the higher the price.

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  6. It is so wonderful to see so many things appearing and growing isn't it. The crocuses and hellebores are especially beautiful aren't they! xx

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    1. I love to see everything springing back to life, it helps me to remember that winter is nearly over. There's some beautiful flowers at this time of year.

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  7. What a lovely place. Our bees have been out recently on the odd warm day we've had.

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    1. We do like Oakwell Hall. We occasionally visit when we walk Archie, it's somewhere different to go with him and there's some good open fields for him to run around. These bees are the first I've seen this year.

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  8. Oh Saturday afternoon was lovely here too Jo and the bees were flying out from the hives at the allotment. A perfect day for garden visiting. I will be interested to see how those apple trees come on.

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    1. It's nice to see the bees out and about again, the garden was filled with them. There's some wonderful apple varieties including the one I showed in my previous post which was propagated from the tree in Isaac Newton's garden which brought about the notion of gravity.

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  9. Great photos Jo.. love the bee hives, our bees have been out and about collecting lots of pollen.. Love Spring :o)

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    1. It's nice to know that spring is finally on the way, winter is far too long for me. The bees were definitely loving the warmer weather.

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  10. Lovely Jo. I like visiting gardens with you and don't comment on this blog as much as I should and haven't looked much lately either. Take care.

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    1. We like visiting Oakwell Hall, it's nice whatever the season. Archie loves it there as there are open fields where he can have a good run.

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  11. I love the bee hives! What gorgeous hellebores, I am totally in love with them!xxx

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    1. The bee hives are another bit of interest in the garden and I'm sure that all the fruit trees are well pollinated. Hellebores are beautiful plants.

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