Bath Botanical A Garden of Sensory Delights

June 1, 2014 / Share your comments...

My dear friend and former neighbor, Marion Mapstone once told me the most important thing to know about gardening is not to be afraid to pull up, clip back and move things around. Her simple guidance didn’t turn me into a master gardener but I am no longer someone who keeps dead plants in the house because they are easier to care for. (Though once upon a time, I did.)

While I now tend to a sizeable flower patch, Marion did more than show me how to handle plants, she taught me to appreciate them as a multi-sensory experience.

 

This came to me on a walk recently in the Bath Botanical Garden in England. Half way through May, this jewel box was in the shoulder season, the proud Spring bulbs already faded and the roses little more than tear-shaped buds waiting for their moment in the sun.

A beautifully curvy Yoshino Cherry Tree

The Botanical Garden consists of nine acres in the northern part of the city’s stunning Royal Victoria Park. Sun and shade, twisty path and spacious meadow, it is open year round and free to the public. From what I read in the 17 page guide, each season has its own charm.

So many beautiful smells on the scented walk

Entering through the massive iron gates, I could smell “The Scented Walk” around the corner before I’d even passed the welcoming area of shrub roses that precedes it.

The first subtle aroma came from the lilacs; every branch of which was topped with a fat tuft of blossoms. As soon as I put my face near a cluster I was rewarded with a pungent kick.

Like the initial taste of something delicious, the first whiff of a flower always packs the most punch and I immediately regretted that I had not been more thoughtful in preparing for the introductory inhale to get the most out of it. Still, each step further along the path brought new fragrances wafting past my nose, some subtle, others strong. One hundred different plants contribute to the bouquet of smells on the scented walk.

They don’t smell but pansies provide a colorful punch

I continued alone along the narrow path; there was no one else in sight but it was not silent, birds were squawking in every tree.  The last time I heard so many birds making such a fuss, it was at The Company’s Garden in downtown Cape Town and unbeknownst to me, they were warning of the imminent arrival of a torrential, early winter hailstorm that forced me to run and cower under a tree while dime-sized pebbles of ice piled up around my feet.

One of the many voices contributing to the chorus

No such turn in the weather interrupted my late afternoon walk in Bath and I came out from a tunnel of dense vegetation into a wide and sunny meadow.  Amid the impressive collection of plants and flowers and the intensely-considered landscaping, I discovered that humor resides in this garden too.

A set of trellises had been constructed to frame a claw foot tub and a park bench was positioned for anyone who wanted to sit and consider the visual pun; a public bath in the botanical garden of Bath.

A bath in Bath

The Roman Baths for which this town is famous

For tourists, many of whom come to this historic city to tour the two-thousand year old Roman Baths, and then spend a few hours soaking in the nation’s only natural thermal waters at Thermae Bath Spa – the garden is balm for other senses.

It delights the eyes with the endless combination of colors and shapes while the velvety petals, spiny heather and free-form tree trunks beg to be touched.

Tamarix Tetandra

The scent of the flowers is the odorous melody to the soil’s reliable bass line while the birds add the soundtrack.

Some people think of gardens as oases of calm, places to relax and retreat – and they are. At the same time, when you consider the multi-sensory pleasures that can be found among the flowers, it is dizzying how stimulating a walk among them can be.

Categories: Europe, Go How Know How, Music, Food, Art and Culture, Nature / Wildlife / Outdoors


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