Mid Wales Road Trip: Part Two (Botanic Gardens)

It was on the sunniest day of our road trip that we stopped off at one of my favourite attractions in Wales, the National Botanic Gardens, just a short drive from the town of Carmarthen. I could happily spend all day here capturing all of the wonderful colours, textures and forms of the thousands of flowers and plants on display.

Me photographing dazzling red lupins in the Botanic Gardens.

Once again, Painting Beautiful Places was along for the adventure!

The centrepiece of the Gardens is the Great Glasshouse, the largest single-span glasshouse in the world. Beneath it’s dome is a carefully controlled, hot and dry habitat for plants from across the world including the Mediterranean, Australia, South Africa & Chile.

The Great Glasshouse framed by the flowers adorning the boardwalk

The iconic glasshouse, centrepiece of the Botanic Gardens of Wales.

One of the reasons I love returning to the Botanic gardens again and again is that each visit offers a different experience. The annual cycle of the seasons influences what is in flower and the gardens can change their flora dramatically in just a couple of weeks, resulting in an ever evolving colour palette of flowers throughout the year.

With the most colourful summer blooms yet to reveal themselves the gardens are not yet at their full vibrancy or most spectacular, but hardly a disappointment.

Irises and foxgloves as far as the eye can see

The stunning sight of cascades of wisteria in the walled garden – the photo doesn’t do it justice!

Planting underway at the Wallace Garden, not yet in it’s full glory

The round, clustered flower heads of alliums standing tall

The hanging yellow blooms of a laburnum tree

Alliums shot with a narrow depth of field for impact

Foxgloves were by far the most abundant flower seen (and photographed!) in the botanic gardens on this visit. With some specimens stretching up to two metres tall, their tapering spires were an impressive sight, swaying gently in the breeze.

This striking flower is as equally deadly as it is beautiful, but only if you eat it!