Welcome back to South Wales where we were enjoying a very wet visit to the Botanic Gardens. In part one we looked at the magnificent glasshouse before taking a break. In part two we carry on in the heavy rain. Winding paths provided us with interesting routeways through the newly planted gravel and rock borders full of interesting foliage all glistening with rain droplets.
The black seed heads of an Eryngium looked in sharp contrast to the pale blue-grey foliage of the Euphorbia close behind. A beautiful oak bench of the simplest design was far too wet to enjoy sitting on. Wet rocks looked full of colour – in the dry they would have been almost monochrome. Grasses always look so good with rock!
Grass borders with every blade moving in waves like a rough sea are here edged with the neatest of low Box hedging. A bench of modern design looked so good against the Box and grasses. Trees in near silhouette looked good against biscuit coloured grasses.
We got soaked through on our walk towards the walled garden but I was still tempted to stop to take a few shots of grasses and my favourite Betulas and some more simple oak block seating.
Jude, aka Mrs Greenbench aka The Undergardener, thought she looked good in this throne! It was a pity her feet didn’t reach the ground – it spoiled the illusion somewhat! It was hard to get her off it! The throne sat under an oak framed arbor with a slate floor, both local materials. Drawings of dragons were etched into some of the slate.
Once in the walled garden, a unique double-walled garden in fact, we enjoyed seeing what the local school children had been up to on their plots. A beautiful bug hotel, a greenhouse made from recycled drinks bottles and an ingenious method comfrey feed all held our interest in spite of the rain.
Once inside the tropical glasshouse we certainly warmed up but my glasses and camera lens both misted up. It took a while for us and the camera to acclimatise. When we did, we were enthralled by foliage of all shapes and sizes, many patterned and textured. Just enjoy the photos.
The few blooms present were bright and gaudy!
When we last visited this garden these old Victorian range of glasshouses were covered in scaffolding so it was great to see they had been renovated and planted up. While the modern curved glasshouse houses temperate plants we were pleased to have discovered the contrast with these old ones housing their tropical plants. It was hot and very humid! The variety of planting was impressive!
The only trouble with the comfort we felt inside the glasshouse was that when we left we had to return to the reality of the wet, cold Welsh weather.
greenbenchramblings 
2 replies on “The Botanic Garden of Wales in the Rain – part two.”
All Mrs. Greenbench needed to complete the photo was a tiara. 🙂 I love the recycled bottle greenhouse. Where there gaps where the bottles sat on top of each other? And can you tell me more about the comfy station? Is that tube filled with leaves that eventually make the liquid in the bottle which is used as fertilizer? Sorry for all the questions, but this was an interesting tour. 🙂
Hi Judy
there were no gaps at all between the bottles. The bases were cut off and the bottles pushed tightly over the top of the ones below. As for the comfrey tube, you are right. Leaves are stuffed into the tube, a weight is put on top (I used to use a lemonade bottle full of water. The weight pushes the leaves down. The liquid seeps out of the bottom and watered down to consistency of a good cup of tea. It can then be used as a liquid feed to base of plants or as a foliar feed. Good for flowers and fruit.