SHEFFIELD BOTANICAL
GARDENS
On Saturday May 17th Gardening Group 2 joined
Disley and Lyme Horticultural
Society for an outing to Sheffield
Botanical
Gardens calling on the way at a Nursery
near Rotherham
specialising in ‘Plants of Special Interest’. The
Café here served
excellent
fruit scones and coffee at very reasonable prices-these we could
afford!
However, some of the Plants of Special
Interest were somewhat expensive and
perhaps justifiably so. The ones that
caught my eye were a Pinus Mungo at £465
and
a Bay Tree with a plaited trunk at
£255. Both of these must have taken
years of skill
and patience to perfect.
Leaving here, we proceeded to Sheffield
Botanical Gardens
which provide a beautiful
green space near the heart of the City.
Built in 1836
by Robert Marnock, known for
his ‘Gardenesque’
style and with restoration work
completed in 2005, winding paths
and tree-planted mounds are widely
featured.
Our guide for the afternoon was a
knowledgeable lady called Jackie
Hamilton who
clearly enjoyed her job. The tour
started in the Pavilions where plants,
including the Bird of Paradise and Protea, are
arranged in areas according to
their native origins with Asia, New
Zealand
and
Australia
being represented. Going on through an area of ornamental birches, where
spring
bulbs have been underplanted, we arrived at the original Bear pit,
where a bear
tatue still stands; live bears were
brought in on high days and holidays
until, as the
gruesome story goes, a child was killed.
The gardens are divided
into mini-gardens
including the Mediterranean Climate
garden where a Magnolia
Wilsonii with its
‘hanging-down’
flowers was in full bloom, the Asia garden
with a magnificent
Handkerchief Tree also in full bloom and
the Evolution
garden featuring the ancient
plants Ginkgo and Dawn Redwood with the
most
ancient object there being a
300,000,000 year old (J.H.said) tree
fossil found
and excavated from the site of
Sheffield Midland Station about 150
years ago.
Walking past the Long Borders
containing collections of plants from
the Americas
and through the dappled shade of
the Woodland
garden, we reached the Main Lawns and Herbaceous
Borders and
the national collections of Weigelas and
Diervillas. Lastly, the
Victorian garden, with its
formal structure and bright bedding
plants, provided
a splash of uplifting colour on
what
had
been the only ‘grey day’ for a few weeks.
Sheffield Hardy Plant Society was
holding a plant sale at
the Botanical gardens which
was well supported by our group and some
would have
had a busy day planting out on
Sunday!
Our thanks go to the organisers from both Disley and our
Gardening group.
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