20 March 2017
The first day of Spring
Spring is coming now, you can feel it in the warmth of the sun
and hear it in the birdsong. I'm never really conscious as to how
and when the change begins every year and yet you feel it, you
sense the change.
Everywhere in the garden that change is taking place, seeming to
gather pace every day, sycamore seeds are germinating in the rich
fertile ground of the kitchen garden and also in the thin grass of
the amphitheatre. The first leaves are beginning to break on the
hazels on the drove, delicate windflower on the lane, and
everywhere there are fresh green and purple shoots emerging from
the earth.
It's a hopeful time of year and every warm day leaves you more
convinced that winter and the cold are finally banished for a few
short months at least. Yet, the weather can change very quickly,
and the warmth disappears momentarily reminding you that it is
still only March after all.
The garden at Allt-y-bela is cleverly designed; at first the
floral focus of the garden is kept very close to the house, the
bulb meadow and courtyard are the initial focus with the snowdrops
on the drove and blossom acting more as an eye catcher, drawing the
view out. Now however, with the narcissus blooming, the focus is
drawn out further and it will stay this way until the tulips and
then the cottage garden bring you back into the garden's
core.
Today I went out to gather flowers for the house. The
Narcissus lobularis are just reaching their peak before
they inevitably begin to fall away and with the fresh green of the
new hazel leaves and the acid green of the Euphorbia, I
soon had a jug of flowers that felt like spring. Oxslips, a single
stem of hellebore and water marigolds completed the arrangement. In
a way though I felt I was missing an important part of the garden,
the first few snake's head fritillaries are in flower and
whilst it felt a very hard decision to sacrifice any for a small
arrangement it also felt remiss of me to not include this beautiful
spring wonder of a flower. In the end it felt right to arrange it
simply with some anemone and narcissus as a simple bedside
jar.
I've found the practice of picking flowers really very helpful in
understanding the changes which take place on an almost daily basis
at Allt-y-bela. When you are looking for the best flowers to pick
you notice how the quality and quantity changes over the weeks.
Actively looking for flowers has connected me with the garden in a
slightly different way to that which I am used to.
Words: Steve Lannin, Head Gardener at Allt-y-bela
Photographs: Britt Willoughby Dyer
© Arne Maynard Garden Design 2017 - reproduction of content and / or photographs only by request.