Visit to Anglesey Abbey – 31st January 2025

On the last day of January, members and friends of the AHS, went on our Winter Garden Trip to visit Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire. The Winter outing has a special place to cheer us at this dark and inclement time and every seat on the coach was taken.
The weather was kind, overcast, not too cold, with no rain.
 


The attractions included the Jacobean House, a Watermill, Lode Mill and of course the garden. 
A small group of us managed to take the guided snowdrop tour where we saw the specialist collection of snowdrops some directly linked to Anglesey Abbey. An artist has painted over 300 different snowdrops collected in a beautiful book on sale in the bookshop. We learnt that the snowdrops hybridise and subtle new varieties emerge. They propagate in a Fibonacci pattern so once they establish they spread. The flowers also lean over and reach the ground once they are past their best. Those with seed heads drop their seeds and germination can begin again.There are lots of names for the snowdrops including Robin Hood and Anglesey Grumpy

The winter garden has a wow factor with the beautiful silver birches planted in a group, their white trunks stark against the deep colour of the soil. The dogwoods gave contrasting rich colours of reds and yellows. Block planting, with repeating patterns, was a notable theme in the expanse of the garden..
The woodland walk and the path to the Lode Mill were explored and those that managed a tour of the house enjoyed it. One of our party was spotted in the woodland play area.

The restaurant provided satisfying hot food at reasonable prices. The shop and plant centre were busy and many came away with purchases. The shop is the busiest National Trust shop and we proved the point.
A much enjoyed outing for the Aldersbrook Horticultural Society.

Our Winter Gardens

Ruth Martin, our AHS chair talked about Winter Gardens at the January meeting, in the place of the advertised speaker who had to postpone due to family illness. She began by showing pictures of plants and flowers from members’ gardens blooming during December and early January (before the freeze), emphasising the effects of climate change in our gardens. However, Ruth went on to emphasise the importance of planting particular shrubs, trees and early flowering bulbs to provide colour, interest and perfume in the cold, grey and dismal months. She stated the importance of providing a good winter view from the window. Ruth spoke about the changes in gardening habits and the necessity of keeping dead plants and foliage over the winter, providing feed for birds and insects. In the same way a number of flowering shrubs such as Daphne, Clematis cirrhosa, Hamamelis, & Winter flowering honeysuckle and early bulbs like Iris reticulata, Crocus, Galanthus (snowdrops) & Eranthis provide pollen for early flying single bees. Shrubs which flower in Winter have a strong perfume precisely to attract bees – they also perfume a room if one or two sprigs are brought into the house. A number of sprigs of winter flowering plants were available for members to see and smell. 

Pictures of trees of interest in winter, like Silver Birch and the Paperback maple with stunning trunks were displayed as well as shrubs with coloured stems such as Cornus and Rubus cockburnianus which give winter colour. Ruth suggested that planting a border with one or two evergreen shrubs provides a good background to plants with coloured stems. She recommended identifying an area of the garden which can be seen from a window and in that area planting an interesting tree, with evergreens and shrubs with coloured stems and strong perfume to provide more interest. She also suggested planting up pots with early flowering bulbs such as Iris reticulata and Crocus which can be seen from the window and planting perfumed shrubs by paths and outside doors so they can be appreciated best. 

She concluded her talk with some pictures of the Winter garden at Anglesey Abbey which members of the AHS

The folklore of plants.

At the December meeting of the AHS, Nina Lewis gave a fascinating talk on the folklore of plants. From the story of the mandrake the plant that squeaks when it’s pulled out of the ground to the use of plants throughout the agricultural year, we were reminded of the many customs and folklore associated with plants. Nina took us through the agricultural year from Plough Sunday – the 1st Monday after Twelfth Night to Candlemas on the 2nd February, half -way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  Candlemas was an important date in earlier times when the house was cleaned, rushes removed and lingering Christmas evergreen thrown out.  The clean house was decorated with a bunch of snowdrops, although in earlier times people were reluctant to bring wild flowers into the house.  An exception was Mothering Sunday when children would present their mothers with a posy picked from the hedgerow – known as a ‘flourish’.  Nina referred to each of the Saint Days in the UK and the plants associated with them – leeks & daffodils in Wales, shamrocks in Ireland, roses in England and thistles and heather in Scotland.

As the year continues, Lilies are used in church at Easter, the Hawthorn is used on Mayday as a protection from evil, and later in the Summer, Hypericum is also used for protection.  The harvest was not only about gathering wheat, rye and barley but also hops, rushes and bracken for stuffing mattresses. Later in the Autumn poppies have become a symbolic flower to remember the fallen in two world wars.  Nina talked about the use of flowers in weddings and funerals and gave us some examples of what flowers actually represented in Victorian times.  The three favourite Christmas plants were explained – Holly with the red berries flourishing in winter and are said to ward off evil spirits.  The ivy is seen as a more ‘feminine’ plant – but resilient in its ability to cling on.  Mistletoe is said to have huge magical properties – a parasite growing between earth and heaven – it is supposed to bring peace and prosperity and protect from lightening – from Victorian times it has been traditional to kiss under the mistletoe.