Snowdrop Season

[puddleshark]

Sunshine, and a pale half-moon hanging above the winter trees, in a cold blue sky. I went to Kingston Lacy, on a sunny February day, with the snowdrops in flower.

This may have been because I was brave. Or it may have been because I had forgotten how busy Kingston Lacy is during snowdrop season. The gardens were heaving with visitors.


One of the many varieties of snowdrops, big and small, in the Fernery.











Also in the Fernery, hellebores & pulmonaria.






Drifts of snowdrops along the paths and in the woods.



Crossed the road into the Kitchen Garden, which has now been planted with a lot of drought-tolerant palm trees and ornamental grasses, but which no longer feels very kitchen garden-y. Wandered round the potting sheds and greenhouses in a mild fog of garden envy.



Then wandered back along the Camellia Walk towards the house.


A cold northeasterly breeze stirring the first few flowers.




Witch hazel.



Sat on a picnic bench near the entrance to the gardens. Drank coffee. Closed my eyes in attempt to feel warmth in the sunlight.

At a table nearby, two elderly ladies were having a winter picnic with flasks of soup, having a conversation about who wanted the leek and potato soup, and who wanted the golden vegetable soup, with some delicate enquiries to establish that the person having the leek and potato soup really wanted the leek and potato soup, and hadn't just asked for the leek and potato soup out of politeness. ("Leek and potato is my favourite!")

Comments

[greenwoodside]

Politeness rituals. I wonder just how common across cultures the 'no, I sincerely love and am devoted to leek and potato soup'; 'but are you sure?'; 'yes'; 'you can be honest'....etc type of exchange is.

I thought I knew every kind of vegetable soup under the sun, but had to google golden vegetable soup. : ) There seem to be wide variations between recipes. The nicer ones would have had me fighting for the flask. Others clinging to the leek and potato.

Stunning snowdrop drifts.

[puddleshark]

Yes, golden vegetable soup is a very movable feast. You never quite know what you're going to get... :-)

Kingston Lacy is the place to go for snowdrops. They pop up here and there in the woods here, but I don't know anywhere else where they grow in great drifts.

[bunn]

Those snowdrop drifts are marvellous!

[puddleshark]

They are spectacular. You can see why the car park at Kingston Lacy is always full on a sunny February day!

[heleninwales]

What beautiful snowdrops! I don't know anywhere locally where they grown in drifts like that. And how lovely to have flowers to look at at this time of year.

[puddleshark]

There are a few woods and churchyards here where the snowdrops come back every year, but Kingston Lacy is the only place where they grow in such great drifts. You can see why so many people make the pilgrimage there in February.

I timed my visit very well. Today is absolutely grim - the coldest day of the winter so far.

[heleninwales]

The weather is grim here too. It's above freezing, but not by much and it's grey and drear. I'm staying inside today.