Green Island Gardens

The gardens are in Ardleigh, near Colchester, it's about an hour away, mostly on the A12.  The journey was comfortable in both directions, probably because of the time of day.   The site is a huge triangle, the entrance is located between two large gardens.  We parked near a bonfire, burning quite intensely, and generating lots of smoke because green waste had been put on top.  The smell of burning wood reminds me of my childhood, and I love it. We paid our entrance fee and wandered around the more cultivated of the gardens.  A better name might be Camellia City, as they were the most common plant.  They are beautiful, of course.  The large red or white flowers providing colour, that would otherwise be limited to the yellow of the daffodils. Most of the paths are covered in moss, especially through the wooded area.  even in the cultivated garden, the grass paths have quite a lot of moss.

This is Camellia japonica 'Rudolph', one of the deepest reds in the gardens.

The magnificent display growing up the side of the entrance, from the inside.

From a distance this looked like Forsythia.  It is "Hamamelis intermedia 'Evi'".  I cannot recall seeing anything like it.

I spoke to one of the ladies who were trimming shrubs, she said they were trying to grow a more yellow, more upright hibiscus.  I think this might be it.

There are hundreds of regular daffodils, these, though, are bizarre.  They don't appear to have trumpets at all.

These small blue flowers had attracted a bee.  I had one chance to capture the picture, but, unsurprisingly, the bee moved on. So here is my picture of the blurry bee. It left me with a question.  How good are all these plants for wild life?  We did not see a single squirrel, and only the one bee.  A large part, of the more cultivated garden was roped off, but even with that it was still worth a visit.  There are also various little buildings, mostly made with materials from the estate, I imagine.  Some could have done with repairs.