It's a 'Jack Frost' January Morning.....

....the skies are blue, the sun is shining , it looks as if it will be a lovely day, but who was Jack Frost? 

It is believed that he originated within Scandinavian or Anglo-Saxon traditions. In one story, he is the son of Kari, Norse god of the winds. In Finnish folklore, there is a legend about a Frost-man and a Frost-woman, who control the weather and keep the conditions good for their reindeer. In many cultures around the world, it is common to personify the seasons and the weather. In Japanese folklore, there are stories of a Frost Man and his brother, Mist Man, who are keepers of frost and dew. 

As for the name Jack Frost, there isn't much reasoning as to why his name has come to be Jack, other than "Jack" was a common slang word for "man" in England during the 16th and 17th centuries - Jack the lad, Jack of all trades, Jack o'Lantern, Jack o' the Green.

My mother always said a good cold winter was necessary to kill off all the bugs and germs. However, of late, that appears to have been proven to be totally untrue. This wretched virus seems to relish the cold rather than the heat.

Jack Frost illustration by Arthur Rackham

Our much loved diminutive snowdrops, those first harbingers of Spring, have now pushed their dainty heads above the ground.

Deep sleeps the Winter,

Cold, wet and grey;

Surely all the world is dead;

Spring is far away.

Wait! the world shall waken;

It is not dead, for lo,

The Fair Maids of February

Stand in the snow!

poem & illustration by Cicely Mary Barker 

It looks as if a small creature has been dining out on my snowdrops. However, I can't begrudge the odd petal to whoever ate them. They must need all of the nourishment that they can find at this time of year. 

I wonder

if the sap is stirring yet, 

If wintry birds are dreaming of a mate, 
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun

And crocus fires are kindling one by one:

Sing, Robin, sing;

I still am sore in doubt concerning Spring. 

I wonder if the springtide of this year 
Will bring another Spring both lost and dear; 

If heart and spirit will find out their Spring, 

Or if the world alone will bud and sing: 

Sing, hope, to me; 

Sweet notes, my hope, soft notes for memory. 

The sap will surely quicken soon or late, 

The tardiest bird will twitter to a mate; 

So Spring must dawn again with warmth and bloom, 

Or in this world, or in the world to come: 

Sing, voice of Spring, 

Till I too blossom and rejoice and sing. 

Christina Rossetti

Found in the garden today.

'Cotswold Farm' Gardens - visited 5th February 2018

Common Snowdrop Galanthus Nivalis
As Mother Nature lifts her winter veil those much loved harbingers of Spring, the snowdrops, are once again nodding their heads in greeting. In February many gardens open their gates to the public giving anyone who is interested a chance to catch these first signs of spring. 
In this area of the Cotswolds there are five particularly renowned snowdrop gardens. Having shown two of them - Newark Park in 2013 and the Rococo Gardens in 2016 this third one has a completely different ambience. The house and the garden were both designed in the local vernacular 'Cotswold Arts and Crafts' style overlooking a quiet valley. In the 1930s, Norman Jewson, the Arts and Crafts architect/designer used local stone for the garden terraces which gradually descend down the side of the valley.

The house was originally a small Cotswold stone farmhouse with a stone barn and cow byre forming a small farmyard. The original farmhouse dates back over 300 years but the stone barns were added 100 years later. In 1900 the house was doubled in size, and then in 1926 Sydney Barnsley, the eminent Cotswold architect/designer was employed to add two new wings in the 'Arts and Crafts' style. Norman Jewson at that time was his assistant, but eventually became responsible for completing the work following Barnsley's death. 

 Chimonanthus praecox - wintersweet - Japanese allspice - native to China 

The garden holds  62 different varieties of snowdrop - these are Galanthus Hill Poe

It is extremely difficult to photograph the underside of a snowdrop without lying on the cold ground so this snowdrop was brought indoors. 

Galanthus Natalie Garton

The terracing gently leads you down to the foot of the valley and the Bog garden.

I do hope that the blight on this Box topiary has the same strain of disease that my plants suffered from. To my delight, and most curiously, my box balls have now completely recovered and regrown.

dwarf Iris alida

Helleborus argutifolius 

 Leucojum vernum - spring snowflake 

Although this pretty little flower is a member of the same family as a snowdrop and is a similar size it has 6 corolla (petals) all of the same length, whereas the common snowdrop Galanthus nivalis has three main petals and three more tiny inner ones. 

The entrance driveway lined with staddle stones.

A Rococo Garden in the Cotswolds - visited 28.01.16

snowdrops en masse 

Rococo was an artistic movement and style developed in the early C18th in Paris. It not only involved the arts and architecture but also gardens. Today's Rococo gardens are mainly to be found in France and Italy - they were exhuberantly created using extravagant pavillions, fountains and stairways. However, the Rococo garden movement also had a fleeting craze here in England, and although not as grand as their European cousins, they sparkled with unrestrained delights which showed off their ostentatious owners often new found wealth. The Rococo Garden in Painswick is a very rare suvivor in England, and at this time of year hosts a special harbinger of Spring - the snowdrop. The garden grows thousands of them including various different cultivars but the principle snowdrop grown is Galanthus atkinsonii which is commonly known as the "big one".  
As a result of the mild winter weather the snowdrops have peaked three weeks early.

This elegant white stucture is called the Exedra, in architectural terms an exedra is a semicircular recess or plinth often crowned by a semi-dome. Used as a folly here in the Rococo garden it makes a striking focal accent which can be seen from many different points in the garden

The Anniversary Maze spells '250 years' and was newly planted at the beginning of the millenium

 Snowdrops have been growing in this Grove for over 250 years. In the C18th the owners of the house traditionally opened their garden to all the local Painswick residents for one Sunday each snowdrop season and invited them to pick themselves a posy of six snowdrops each

A Palladian seating folly which has been given some exhuberant rococo emblishments

The Kitchen Garden prepared and ready for planting - it looks spectacular during the apple blossom season when the cordoned fruit trees flower 

A Plunge Pool accompanied by running spring-water were essential elements in an C18th century garden. Throughout that period there was an interest in following a cold regime, which was claimed to extend life expectancy. This included spending time out of doors, taking plenty of outdoor exercise and bathing in cold water.
The philosopher John Locke wrote in 1703....
"Everyone is now full of the miracles done by cold baths on decayed and weak constitutions, for the recovery of health and strength;"

In the C18th Plunge Pool activities at Painswick were presided over by Jan Van Nost's statue of Pan which has now been repositioned to another more protected location within the garden

Arched walkway

View across the fish pond to the Red House

 The Red House sits at the head of the valley having commanding views of the garden. It is both flambouyant and eccentric, displaying one of the main features of the Rococo period of asymmetry. The doors to the Red House are locked in the open position as it plays host to a colony of Lesser Horsehoe Bats roosting in the roof - an extremely rare bat in England and only found here the southwest of the country

The Red House was put on the English Heritage 'at risk' register in 2007 when it was discovered that there was evidence of structural movement. In the winter of 2009/10 underpinning was carried out, and at the same time the windows were replaced. They are inscribed in Latin with the Songs from Solomon.

As it's name suggests The Eagle House sits at the highest point in the garden and has far reaching views across the garden to the countryside beyond

This fanciful creation sits on the unaffected stump of a Beech Tree which had become diseased.  It will quickly mellow and blend in with the other trees in the glen. The work was completed by a local chainsaw sculptor, Denius Parson literally days ago - it was inspired by Schloss Neuschwanstein in Bavaria

It seems appropriate to conclude the post with a snowdrop