Early Spring Colour

Our first spring bulbs are showing now, Crocus, Snowdrops and Narcissi, nothing unusual in that, but no less welcome!



Snowdrops and Hellebores at Altamont.



We decided to pack off for the day to look at and admire a public garden in county Carlow: Altamont Gardens, on the banks of the River Slaney, between Tullow and Bunclody is a great example of a wild garden with a blend of formal and informal plantings in a great setting.  Best of all, the gardens are free to visit, (they were left to the state in 1999).  



Crocuses naturalised in the lawn



Altamont has a great plant centre and you can picnic beside the car park. The old house is closed and probably in need of costly renovations, but the gardens are pristine though yet embracing the wild Robinsonian look with rock scapes and woodland walks and a seemless merging between natural plantings and nature itself.

Swan on the lake, Snowdrops on the Lawn!

Narcissi and Pulmonaria, well nourished and not a weed in sight!

I cant think of a nicer way to spend a few hours at this time of year; the show of spring bulbs is stunning and there are many speciman trees in the Arboretum: I must return later in the year to admire the 30 or so varieties of Rowan in the Sorbus field..