Garden Tour

It wasn't rainy but cloudy and windy, not the best day for the College  Winter Garden Tour but a big group showed up. The three gardeners took us around and showed us Wolfson's amazing winter garden. This garden emphasizes color and texture. I wish I could remember the names of all the wonderful plants we looked at.

We headed toward Fuchs House passing this lovely pink champagne birch. You can see Morrison House (the creamy stucco building) in the back ground.

The Fuchs House was home to an arctic explorer who loved penguins. The house is now used for Wolfson accommodations. We have friends who stay in large single rooms and share a kitchen and common rooms. Helen and Jake stayed here when they visited in 1999. We look out over Fuchs house from Morrison House.

We walked around to the front of the house through this scented garden. Daphne  (on the right) is in full bloom as well as another scented bush. I believe it is sarcococca confuse or sweet box, and now that I know the smell, I recognize its delicious scent in other gardens throughout Cambridge. It is different in scent but with the same power as Columbia's tea olive which blooms during the change of seasons. 

We walked round the corner of the house,

to the back where a boxwood hedge is trimmed into a giant penguin. Notice the egg between his feet as that is the way penguins move their eggs. The tree on the right is a redwood or sequoia--there are two in this yard.

Walking around the garden we come to this Snowflake swirl.

And ahead is the Wolfson Conference Center with nicely furnished accommodation as well as smart meeting rooms.

Daffodils are abloom all over Cambridge. When we were here in 2012, they did not open until April--that is the month of the Queen's birthday (and mine) and I always associate her with bunches of daffodils presented by school children for her birthday. But it has been a warm weather in UK. I read that over 50 species of flowering plants have bloomed early this year. Apple blossoms are beginning to bloom in the Orchard at Grantchester.

Lovely paths meander through Wolfson's spacious grounds.


A non- invasive black bamboo over the reflecting glass ball--you can see me taking the photo

Wolfson sports trees with unusual and beautiful bark that add color in the winter.

And a close-up. I love the black grass in the foreground.

Robert, our Norwegian friend, spends this term in Wolfson every year. A talented linguist, he writes on Ibsen's translations. He is looking toward Lee Hall, Wolfson's auditorium where music events and large receptions are held.

And our gardener Phil Stigwood shows off this lovely horse on the side of Lee Hall. While being transported from China, it was dropped, broken into many pieces, but carefully put back together again.

Another view of the horse shows the glass windows in Lee Hall, very nice for letting in the natural light.

The garden is "a riot of color" (is this a quotation?--I thought it came from Emily Dickinson but I cannot find it in the concordance of her poetry).

Lovely primroses, euphoria, lenten roses, heather, and others that I cannot name are  scattered all about adding bits of bright color! I love the mauvy palette.





Here, Phil names the different plants. Behind him is Bredon House where there are offices and  meeting rooms. Student rooms are on the right.

I found one camellia with buds. They don't grow well as the soil is alkaline. Camellias like acidic soil which we have in Columbia.  I met a woman on Barton road who grows about a hundred camellias in clay pots. I like looking in on these now in full bloom.

Wolfson Gardens also include berry bushes and rosemary and lavender!

One of my favorite paths

is this wisteria-covered arbor, leading to the library.

The library is full of light and a pleasure to work in. The ground floor has a state of the art computer center where Kevin works.