Winter garden: Gresgarth Hall

I promised to share more pictures from my most recent visit to Gresgarth Hall – here they are. I’ve tried to give you a quick private tour of this lovely winter garden.

It’s not often I’ve had the chance to see so many mature hellebores flowering. I wanted to try to capture a different impression of these generous plants than a picture of just one single flower can convey.

It involved a fair bit of crouching, but you often get a better perspective of little things when you come down to their level.

Other late winter flowers caught my eye too, especially this clump of scillas, flowering their hearts out beneath a deciduous shrub.

I took several snowdrop pictures but liked this one best because of the contrast between the mossy, leafy woodland floor, the elegant leaves and the white double flowers. I prefer snowdrops that are sturdy plants and these ones certainly were!

A stream flows through the garden: you can glimpse its reflections in the picture above of a very natural looking double hellebore. I wondered if it was a species. I loved the contrast between the green on the inside of the petals and the purple on the backs – and the way sunlight was highlighting the picotee edge.

The meadow had come to life with bulbs – a circle of daffodils and crocuses were naturalising at the base of an old tree.

I haven’t managed to capture the colour quite right of this hellebore, but I had to give it a try. Its stamens look like perfectly made up eyelashes to me – now that’s flower power!

To keep things short and sweet, I’ve grouped some pictures into a gallery of winter at Gresgarth Hall Gardens, including more hellebores, primroses, snowdrops and daffodils:

The day had started wet and remained overcast, but the sunshine came out just as I was about to leave. In any English garden in winter you can see the bare bones: when it’s as well structured as this one, that’s no bad thing. In summer, roses blooming on the house walls and the gazebo will bring softness, but this is a great time to admire the different levels and the neatly trimmed topiary.

Gresgarth Hall Gardens is a private garden that opens to the public on ten days each year. Please check their website for details if you’re planning to visit. These pictures were taken during their 2015 Hellebore Day.

If you’d like to see how this garden is transformed in summer, click here.

Living in a coldish climate, the seasons have definite rhythms and I’ve grown to appreciate them all. For me, the winter garden has a special style of beauty – I’m happy to hunt out jewels and see each new flower as a sign of spring. Let me know whether you agree!