Daffodils
Daffodils
Spring bulb catalogues are always lying about everywhere. All with Geordie’s indecipherable writing and scribbles in most margins. I try to request a few specific choices of bulbs to include in the order, for the rose arbour for example, but in true husbandly fashion he does not seem to hear a word.
Before Geordie and I took on Highclere, the gardens here had largely disappeared. Both the First World War and Second World War took their toll. The once admired rare azaleas, borders and American Gardens on the east lawn, the remains of the 18thcentury woodland garden, the walled gardens all faded. There were of course far fewer people to work here - it was simply the consequences of changing times and economics as well as the struggle for many stately homes to find a new raison d’être in modern times.
Geordie and I decided that part of our contribution to the estate would be to rebuild the gardens although in a more practical and less labour-intensive format than previously. Today, visitors and guests can once more wander along meandering paths through glades and herbaceous borders, discover the wildflowers and cleared avenues, as well as old terraces and an Etruscan temple.
Two decades later these new and old gardens give many moments and walks of pleasure to visitors as well as ourselves. It has been, and still is, an entirely joyful journey and I have even been able to write about it and share it through photographs where once there was very little to talk about.
The catalogues help Geordie plan his “time lapse” planting, bulbs which offer colour and shape from the earliest months to late summer.
In the last two decades we have planted about 200,000 bulbs from snow drops and croci, daffodils, camassia, chionodoxa, frittilarias and alliums. January to March is the time we place the orders for bulbs to increase the planting for next autumn and for additional swathes of bulbs for spring 2025.
I am always so thrilled to see the first snowdrops appear and whilst I want to enjoy each day, I am impatient for the determined crocus: clumps of misty lavender, delicately lined white and the deepest purples with bright yellow stamens. It is always so lovely to start seeing colour in the garden again.
The most well-known of spring bulbs though, must be the daffodil – such positive light affirming yellows which reflect the sun and are a welcome sight amongst the sparse brown limbed shrubs and trees. They are symbols of creativity, energy, resilience, forgiveness and vitality. We have scattered many varieties throughout the wilder areas, from double headed ones, white ones and scented narcissi. Ones which welcome us early and others that extend towards cherry blossom time. Their huge advantage is that they grow anywhere and are not eaten by deer or small mammals.
Daffodils mark a time of new beginnings and rebirth and are amazingly resilient, popping up year after year. Despite being native to the warmer climes of southern Europe, they are planted in swathes across the UK and are the national symbol of Wales.
March weather is always full of promise and rain. The month begins on March 1st with a day of celebration in Wales to mark the achievements and miracles of St. David who lived in the 12th century. St. David grew to fame as a teacher and is said to have lived to 100 years old. Unlike many other saints, he died of natural causes on March 1st, around 600AD. His last words to his followers came from a sermon he gave on the previous Sunday:
'Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do.'
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80 Comments
Will Highclere be open as per usual, despite Downton Abbey being filmed there again? How’s that going so far, Lady Carnarvon?
Lady Carnarvon,
It is so gratifying to enjoy the flowers of Spring! Your beautiful pictures of the gardens and natural areas at Highclere are lovely glimpses of your and Geordie’s stewardship to give back to others what you have been so blessed with.
Thank you for sharing your love of your land and nature’s bounty of beautiful flowers!
Martha G.
Lady Carnarvon..........The gardens you tend must be so beautiful. I wish I would have the opportunity to see it one day. I doubt that day will ever come due to me age and having a clingy husband. But thank you for allowing us to see the gardens through your eyes.
Thank you Lady Carnarvon, Love beginning each week with your inspirational words! It was such a pleasure meeting you in Newport Rhode Island. Hope to visit Highclere some day.
Lovely Blog again Lady Carnarvon.
Spring is a favorite season given the reblooming of bulbs underground during winter season and skeleton trees. Impressive that you and Lord Carnarvon wanted blooming gardens back on Highclere property once you inherited it. Your gardens are lovely. Enjoy walking throughout them during this spring and summer and fall seasons!
Yes public opening is on the horizon, all ticket availability is on the website www.highclerecastle.co.uk
Thank you Richard, the Viking River Cruise to Egypt is a very special experience indeed.
The flowers and landscape are beautiful. Thank you for sharing your planting plans and for the quote from St. David.
Each Monday morning I look forward to your blog.
Wilmington, NC
Beautiful!
Lovely daffodils out in the garden did you and lord Carnarvon wonderful weekend and lovely highcelere castle and lam of Downton Abbey and thank you for the email
Thank you
Love your garden and spring flowers. My husband and l had a wonderful time at Highclere when we had a tour of fifty people a beautiful tea and tour of Tutankhamun.
Your gardens are beautiful we loved walking around.
Have a wonderful spring.
Diane.
I love your Monday blogs; however, I've been absent in responses for quite some time. It has been a whirlwind year.
I love this time of year when everything begins to bloom and leaf out. I've been walking my garden and documenting what is popping its head out of the ground. I love this time of year.
Pam Oates
Thank you Diane
Sounds like this was a huge, but a necessity. Quite a bit of time and work, but the rewards are great.
If I could just scream at the weeds to leave and they would disappear it would be a treat.
Reestablishing the gardens is a lovely legacy for future generations to experience. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Have you made a video tour of all your lovely gardens?
Many of us older folks cannot travel to England and would love to see
All the flowers.
Beautiful thank you.
Hello Carol
On Friends of Highclere which is our Members Club for Friends and Patrons, we post numerous 3D videos of the gardens. I might add though, this is a subscription based club.
Hello Lady Carnarvon
Thankyou for all the lovely photographs!
I do so love daffodils!
I sometimes collect them in spring on my way into town as they - like Agapanthus- are popular street flowers! I absolutely adore daffodils and particularly enjoy to say their name; a name I love to have on my lips in spring!
It is still early autumn here! The temperatures are starting to cool but the leaves are not yet falling!
It is still green and summery!
By Easter 2024 things will probably start to change! The purple hibiscus tree is still producing flowers at present! A glorious time of year!
Thankyou Lady Carnarvon
Best wishes
FLEURINA DECORTES de GILBERT
Orange City East
Central Western NSW Australia
Lady Carnarvon,
How beautiful the grounds! And a walled garden is such a wonderful concept (reading The Secret Garden over and over again as a girl, I've always wanted to have one)...hearing that you and the Earl are making strides to restore the old gardens and walkways is such a contribution to the legacy of Highclere. And you have inspired me to stop by the nursery today (here in California) to purchase some narcissus bulbs!
Happy Spring to you! Your love of flowers is inspirational.
Dear Lady Carnarvon! Your and your husband Gordie's admirable stewardship has been such a tremendous example to us all. Thank you! Great daffodils! Still only a dream here in Jackson Hole,WY. Snow up to our window, a young moose on the patio and mule dear "girls" under the bird feeders, I listen to the chickadees' spring call! Their cheerful promise makes my day. Very happy, fragrant, bright days full of Spring joys to you all at Highclere !
I hope you find some wonderful bulbs and plants Erika.
Thank you Elizabeth, the sound of a chickadee is a wonderful thought.
Your blog today is very timely as we just had an unusual burst of warm weather here in the Pacific Northwest and our daffodils and cherry blossoms have sprung to life as well. I also love bulbs, because once planted they’re an almost effortless early signs of color and life after a cold dreary winter. I will have the pleasure of touring your lovely home this coming May and look forward to see not only your garden but the other beautiful gardens in the SW of England.
Thank you Dyanne, we look forward to welcoming you in May.
THANK YOU.
Absolutely gorgeous pictures your ladyship
Thank you so very much for sharing your blog,on such a beautiful day in Glen Allen ,Virginia.Your sharing ,has absolutely "Made", my day ! Thank you,and continue to enjoy your day !
St.David's story is really interesting!!! Have a wonderful week
While enjoying the entire blog, I was especially happy to learn that daffodils are not eaten by deer or small mammals. We live in Maine in the US surrounded by woods, and our attempts for planting bulbs have been disastrous. Well, disastrous for us but not the happy munchers.
My husband and I are returning for the third time to Highclere on May 5th. We are very excited to be repeat guests!
In Glenview, Illinois, we have a National Historic Landmark, The Grove. The first settler was Dr. John Kennicott. Besides being a medical doctor he opened Illinois ' first nursery in about 1838. An area of the original acreage was being cleared in the early 2000s. Rows and rows of daffodils were found and they have been coming up since. It's been an amazing discovery. Those lovely daffodils are hardy plants!
How very uplifting! Especially liked the words about the daffodils! Captures beautifully why we love these spring flowers!
Bonjour,
Vous avez de très belles photos et un merveilleux jardin, bravo. You have very nice photos and a wonderful garden, well done.
Bonne journée de Québec, Canada
Lady Carnarvon,
Thank you for choosing to restore the gardens!
My husband and I had the pleasure of strolling through them in July 2019.
It will always be a treasured memory.
All the beautiful spring flowers especially the white daffodils ,
Thank you so much for another interesting blog .it really makes my Monday to read them all ,
As always I love reading your blog.. it is wonderful that you restored the gardens there.. that’s a legacy itself!
The quote from St David is so appropriate since he seems to mirror Apostle Paul’s writing..
My favorite in the early spring garden is crocus.. I love when grass is dappled with them..
Thank you!
they are a joy!
Thank you
I have just been walking through them again..
Good story
You too!
Please bring sunshine - see you then
And they spread...
Wait.. Downton Abbey is filming again!! How wonderful! And Lady Carnavon, I love that you have chosen the gardening as your legacy at Highclere, they bring such joy. xoxo
I visited Highclere last summer and was interested to see where my relative Edward Trotman, chauffeur to the older Earl had worked. What an amazing experience!! Looked at all the photographs in the exhibit but was not able to find Edward. One day would love to return to that gorgeous location!!
Do you have wisteria growing at Highclere?
Fiona: A very interesting Monday subject. You mentioned an “American Garden”. Was it originally created by my cousin, Catherine Wendell, when she was married to Porchey—the sixth Earl? Sadly I never came to Highclere in the spring, but a number of times with my godmother, Penelope, in the summer. Maybe again—one spring day!
200,000 bulbs in 20 years! That's impressive. I think of owners of Stately Homes as swans. Elegantly serene on the surface, whilst working furiously away out of our, Joe Public's, view! I admire your foresight, tenacity and dedication. Best wishes, B.
We have recently taken over my husband's family home. The gardens were sorely neglected for the last 10+ years of my in-laws lives. In repairing the flower beds I've found hundreds of spring bulbs and am in the process of dividing and replanting paper whites, daffodils, and hyacinths. Here in the deep south of the US the paperwhites bloom in time for Christmas, and the daffodils aren't far behind! We also have found beautiful ground cover roses that bloom from April until first frost. Right now we're enjoying the azaleas, dogwoods, and cherries that have all burst into bloom this week, just in time for Easter.
The gardens at Highclere are lovely and when we visited last July, the wild meadow was awash with a myriad of beautiful flowers and butterflies. It was magical and a credit to you for creating such beauty. Sadly we rarely visit the UK in your Spring, so haven’t had the opportunity to marvel at the beautiful flowers.
I’ve just ordered 50 tulips for the pots on our deck - they were our Mother’s favourite flowers, so we plant them for her each year. Full of joy and the promise of warmer weather, we enjoy their vibrant beauty for almost a month.
Thank you for sharing your blogs. I always find them a happy start to my week.
Had a most informative tour of Highclere castle a few weeks ago, and despite the inclement March weather on that day, wandered beneath the grand cedar trees along the garden paths leading to the Monks' garden topiary and glass house, marveling at all the accomplishments both you and the Earl have realized. I will have to return as the seasons' blooms unfold. The extensive swathes of daffadils carpeting fields in Cornwall's Porthcurno area brought to mind William Wordsworth’s poem ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’,
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze
....and poems' finish with ‘And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils”.
Wonderful vignette as always. The line “whilst I want to enjoy each day” leading to discussing anticipated events, is both truly memorable and truly fine writing. We are looking forward to visiting Highclere in August 2024, being fortunate to bring our daughter and son-in-law as well while in London for a week from Washington, D.C. We also look forward to our scheduled Viking Nile River cruise in 2025, also taking our daughter and son-in-law, to see among other things the great fruits of the Fifth Earl’s labors (and also bring to life your wonderful recent book on the Earl and the Pharaoh), which we selected in no small part because of your enthusiasm for and mention of this Viking cruise. Thanks so much for your continuingly interesting blog.
That is fine and true!!!
The American Garden was created in c 1816
I have just planted a wisteria tunnel! Do you ahve any photographs of Edward Trotman? He was in Earl and pharaoh book
Thank you so much
It sounds great!Busy..
My husband and I visited the castle on Saturday and we thoroughly enjoyed our trip. The elderly gentleman in the parking lot was so nice and took the time to have conversations with us. We loved the gardens, the castle tour, the Egypt tour, and the yummy refreshments. Visiting your castle was a dream come true for me!
Thank you for opening your home to us.
Make sure you send for your own bulb catalogs. Orders here in NY start in early summer. (Men!)
I appreciate the quote by St David at the end. Very helpful words at a time it is needed. Thank you!
Hello,
I visited Highclere last July and thoroughly enjoyed my day. I would love to become a member and support Highclere in any way I can. I would love to see the videos of some of the rooms that are not generally open to the public as well. Is this a monthly or a yearly membership?
Happy Spring,
Debra Burton Bennett
Kettle Falls, Washington
Lady Carnarvon
Thank you so much for sharing this latest blog. I always looked for daffodils, primroses and bluebells while growing up in Suffolk. Here in West Texas the ground is so hard I marvel that some people get daffodils to grow here, but they have a green thumb and I don't. I especially enjoyed learning that you and your husband have re-established the gardens, as much as possible, that were there before. I always look forward to reading your blog, though it might be Tuesday before that happens. The St. David quote was a nice touch too.
Mary L. Mantel
That poem sprang to mind instantly for me as well...also, the Welsh spelling of David (Dafydd)...there are no coincidences, as they say!
I have just deadheaded my little array of daffodils. Later on when the leaves have died back , I’ll dig up, dry, store ,ready for 2025’s showing. I’ve just done some really late planting of daffs, & they are shooting upwards yipppe. We require some warmer weather!!!!
Thank you for your blogs. I really enjoy them and it would be awesome to have them all in a book to read over and over :) They just make me happy.
Lady Carnarvon,
This is a beautiful blog. The spring flowers in your garden with the pretty butterfly, and words of hope and faith.
Spring flowers are my favorite! You gardens are beautiful and I love the natural garden!
Wonderful photos - Spring is such a colourful and aromatic time of year. Thank you so much for sharing.
thank you
It does smell different
Dear Lady Carnarvon:
Thank you for this Monday's blog.
I am sorry that the original gardens have been lost to the trial and tribulations of times past. It does appear from the very colorful photographs presented, that you and Lord Carnarvon are doing an excellent job in bringing the gardens back to its glorious status.
Until next time, I wish happy bulb planning and shopping.
Perpetua Crawford
Dear Lady Carnarvon.
Thank you for the lovely Spring blog. I always enjoy reading your blog. It is such a Bright spot in this crazy world we are living in.
Happy Easter
Thank you for taking care to rebuild Highclere gardens. We visited in 2019 ,such a special place in my memory.
They have come on since then - I just love working in them ..
Hello your ladyship,
I can't imagine the work of planting 200,000 bulbs, I don't care how many years - that's a monumental task. You deserve a lot of credit for that.
I noticed one photo of dark grape hyacinths blooming wild among grasses, and that actually looked great and more natural (therefore more attractive) than when you put them in a small mulched area alone (as I've always done). I like the hyacinths the best of early spring bloomers and they are the most fragrant of the ones I am familiar with.
This is my first time reading your blog, I'll have to read the history ones. It never occurred to me that you would have come to a Highclere partially in shambles, since my knowledge of it came from the Downton Abbey television show. I could only picture it in mint condition.
I did want to point out something, not to be mean, but to be helpful. You said St. David lived in the 12th century? and died in 600 AD? According to a Wikipedia page I found, he did indeed live in the 6th century, dying around 600 AD and information about him is often found in chronicles written in the 12th century.
Hi,
They have a number of references to "Friends of Highclere" on the website, including on the home page. Just scroll around at your leisure and you'll notice them.
I know I always miss things when I'm in a hurry. It's an annual membership of 150 pounds or $200 at the current exchange rate.
By the way, I just found out today, I have no foreign transaction fees on my debit card, but I do on my credit card. You may be able to save a little by checking with your bank(s) before you choose which card to use.
Diane in Pennsylvania
You are quite right St David is much older - thank you
I love the photographs of the beautiful flowers on the Highclere gardens. We're hoping to visit the estate sometime in the next few years and so looking forward to it. We took a Viking River Cruise to Egypt a year ago and toured the Howard Carter house with all the memorability and a plaque honoring the former Earl.
I so enjoy the weekly blogs.
Richard