Ashwoods - The Winter garden

I spent the day at Ashwood Nurseries, primarily as I was giving the annual Snowdrop lecture with 'More Special Snowdrops' the subject for the day. It all went very smoothly and after a superb lunch with John Massey, it was garden tour time......

Every man and his dog were making a beeline for John's new Hepatica house!

What an incredible sight! Imagine every Hepatica species in cultivation.  Add as many varieties and clones as you can think of... Plus stock plants galore, a latter day Aladdins cave :-)

It was very early days for flowers but I think you will see some images from here at a later date!

Over to the garden then......

Some of the really dark Hellebore hybrids plus Cyclamen coum album on a dull day made for really tricky photography!

He has a bit of a Deer problem!

But no problem in some stunning use of Hellebores as foliage subjects,

The pond and rock garden always make a beautiful landscape!

Despite the fact it was a Snowdrops day, the cold meant the flowers were tightly closed :-)

This is Galanthus 'Nothing Special' - ohne of Joe Sharmans selections, it looks pretty good though!

Galanthus 'Trumps' is one of Matt Bishop's finest and whilst it wont be cheap, a must for every Snowdrops garden!

Oh Oh, another dark - as black as is possible Hellebore hybrid!

Two particularly fine Hellebores were in prime flower. This is Helleborus 'Penny's Pink' plant of the day for me :-)

Helleborus 'Walburton's Rosemary' was in fine fettle too.....

The garden outside the house was brightened up by several Hamamelis selections. Is there a better shrub for the backbone of  the Winter garden?

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Sunburst'

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Barnstedt Gold'

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Pallida'

What better image to finish on than the creator of this garden for all seasons. The man himself in full flow....