Approaching the Great Glasshouse on my walk this week at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire, I came upon this little round and seemingly very young robin. It was bobbing around some tall grasses as though it wanted its photo taken. I suspect it may have been looking for its mother which may have been doing the same thing from the rim of the water feature set at the top of the beautiful twisting path leading up from the entrance to the gardens.
Walking through the double walled garden at the National Botanic Garden of Wales I focused not on the walls but on one or two of the other features. My choices were largely influenced by the light and two of these were the simple and beautiful design of the seat in front of bamboos and the thistle seed heads.
My choice for the first image in this post is however not in the double walled garden but just outside it.
On weekdays in January the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW) is free to enter and so we took a mid week opportunity of some clear weather to visit. We have been many, many times over the years since it opened in 2000 and always enjoy the developing growth and changing arrangements of plants, borders and other features such as the bug hotels.
There is a lot to see and explore there even in the middle of winter and on this occasion we were surprised by the current entertainment of butterflies in the hot house.
This is the smallest of the three lakes at the National Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW). It is the one that welcomes you along with the ducks when you arrive and makes for a beautiful and relaxing memory to depart with along with all the amazing scenery, flowers and plants, architecture, art, science and history of the place and of course, walks. It is well worth repeated visits and having watched it develop over these past fifteen years or so, I look forward to a lot more growth in the future.
Click the first in the block of images below to view the week’s photos in sequence.
Having walked around the Double Walled Garden at the Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW), as we left this area we discovered some new planting in between the double walls. Brassicas were on display next to the bee garden and again i was unable to resist the urge to photograph some of the intricate fractal patterns that are formed by their leaves.
Click the images to view them larger.
Autumn colours are wonderful but back in September at the tail end of Summer, the colour in the Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW) was not confined to the plants and flowers. A tortoiseshell butterfly also displays its colourful beauty while in the background of the first image you can see the curve of the Great Glasshouse, the largest single span glass house in the world, designed by Norman Foster.
However often we go for a walk at the Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW), we cannot miss out one of its main features – the Great Glass House. The architecture itself is interesting enough on its own, but the pleasure of walking around its different planting zones cannot be matched. It is also impossible not to take photos of at least some of the exotic flowers. Many, many others have done this – these are some of mine.
Within the Botanic Garden of Wales (NBGW) where we were walking in September, there are a number of other gardens. My photos today are from the Wallace Garden and although they do not show the double helix arrangement of the paths, as this was not as easy to see as it is sometimes due to the content of the beds, it seemed less important to try and capture it.
It seems there is something different in the garden every time we visit and what you see below is some of what was there on this occasion in September – it will be different now and then again in Spring.
Wallace Garden exit/entrance
Alfred Russel Wallace
Sculpture in the Wallace Garden by Dilys Jackson
