‘You must come and see our daffodils,” the team at Painswick Rococo Garden said when I was there last month admiring the snowdrops. It was an invitation I couldn’t refuse.
I knew there had been an ongoing project to plant narcissi in the grounds of this quirky Cotswold garden but there were far more than I’d expected. Vast drifts of yellow and white spread out below the gnarled trees in the orchard and up to the feet of the iconic garden follies. On a sunny March morning, it was a delightful sight.
The Rococo Garden, the country’s only surviving example of a garden style popular in the 1700s, has long been known for its snowdrop display but daffodils are a newer introduction. The team, led by Head Gardener Roger Standley, began planting back in 2017 and have added more than 100,000 since then.
“It extends our season and gives us lots of variety,” Roger told me. “We’ve got lots of areas to have naturalised bulbs and daffodils work really well.”
Several different varieties are being used, designed to give a display that runs from ‘Tamara’, which flowers from the end of February, right through to others that bloom in April and May.
In the orchard, there’s a mixed planting with varieties including the white and yellow ‘Ice Follies. Around the pond, there’s ‘Geranium’ and ‘Red Devon’, which both have vibrant orange trumpets, one against white petals, the other against yellow. More unusual and double varieties are found around the Exedra.
Indeed, the daffodils at the Rococo Garden range from the bold ‘King Alfred’ right down to the diminutive Narcissus pseudonarcissus, the wild daffodil, long grown in the Newent area of Gloucestershire.
As the Rococo Garden display is designed to last for many weeks, there is still plenty of time to visit to see the daffodils.
Elsewhere, there were lots of signs of spring with primroses starting to emerge in banks.
The hellebores, which are such an important companion for the snowdrops, were still looking beautiful.
There were also drifts of wood anemones – closed in the early morning shade on my visit.
There is still white in the garden but from leucojum not snowdrops. Also known as the snowflake, these tall white flowers are a good follow-on from snowdrops.
The lawns have had their first cut, the hedges are clipped and there was a sense of freshness and promise in the garden.
Gloucestershire is blessed with many fine snowdrop gardens of which the Rococo Garden is one yet few have a big display of daffodils. In that, the Rococo Garden stands alone and, with the display being added to every year, spring is now another great season to visit.
Details of the Rococo Garden opening hours are here.
Enjoyed this? You can read about more of my garden visits here.
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Now that’s the definition of a host of golden daffodils. Geranium is one of my favourites, it has such a delightful scent. I nearly visited this garden in October, but decided that it probably wasn’t the best time of year. Spring is obviously a good time. I planted the leucojum for the first time in the autumn and they have begun to flower, but they are not much taller than snowdrops!
It’s well worth a visit! I’m thinking about finding some space for leucojum too.