Spent a couple of hours today up at Batsford Arboretum, one of our favourite places. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm which made a lovely change after all the stormy and cold weather we’ve had.
I wondered if there would be some evidence of storm damage, they’d closed the Arboretum on Friday due to the high winds, but there didn’t seem to be any major problems.
Fields of snowdrops looked stunning and the daffodils are nearly ready to burst into flower too.
This magnolia has plenty of buds:
This beautiful plant had a glorious scent, I’m going to see if we can find one to grow in our garden. Luckily most of the plants are labelled so I know that it is a ‘Daphne bholua – Sir Peter Smithers’ – whatever it is, it is beautiful!
But my absolute favourites are the hellebores – I’m a bit obsessed with this glorious flower which I’d never heard of a year or so ago.