A year-round feast for the senses
Watching the seasons change at Crook Hall Gardens is reason to return again and again.
Roses come into their own each summer, filling the gardens with their beauty and scent. From June, phlox, oriental poppies and ox-eye daisies vie for attention in the walled gardens. The moat pool teems with life, including frogs, newts and dragonflies.
Our Senior Gardener, Ann, recommends keeping an eye on the maze in the autumn. A living puzzle planted mainly of cotoneaster, at the beginning of September it sports dark green leaves; red berries soon appear, then develop over the coming weeks in a fascinating transformation.
Several shrubs have an autumnal ‘wow’ moment. Look out for beautyberry with its vivid purple berries. Autumn crocuses also provide unexpected pops of colour.
Spring grows into a riot of colour. Hellebores ease us out of winter, with snowdrops joining them as an early sign of spring. Bright splashes of anemones, cyclamen and crocus soon appear. The vibrant yellows of daffodils, forsythia and kerria bring sunshine on even the dullest day. Tulips, grape hyacinth and fritillaria add variety to the palette.
A large magnolia, benefiting from spring warmth in the shelter of the walled garden, puts on a magnificent display of flowers. And a frothy mass of blossom makes the orchard an unmissable sight.