The Bulb Meadow in mid April
Turning left as you leave The Rhododendron Walk (and from the path below) you shortly cross The Wisteria Bridge, festooned in May with cultivars including the pink W. floribunda ‘Honibeni’ and bizarre double-flowered W. floribunda ‘Violacea Plena’, arriving in The Bulb Meadow. The central path leads past a low cairne-like stone sculpture backed by mossy bank constructed of peat blocks and studded with Shortia clearly enjoying ideal conditions.
From late January to mid April, the ground in this area literally heaves with countless thousands of bulbs beginning with the first snowdrops, Cyclamen and Iris, and moving on through dwarf daffodils such as the frightened looking Narcissus cyclamineus with its swept back petals. April sees one of the finest colonies in the country of Erythronium revolutum, carpeting the ground under the boughs of a large Magnolia x loebneri.
The colony of Erythronium revolutum in The Bulb Meadow
Reached via The Devon Lane which runs below the exit from The Bulb Meadow to the driveway is The Dovecote which the area overlooks. This was built as a memorial to William and Helena Heath at the request of a great benefactor to The Garden House, Mrs Dorothy Harris. In her will Mrs Harris established the William and Helena Heath Scholarship in the name of her parents. This fund provides for the employment and annual placement of a horticultural student at The Garden House.
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