The season starts with the snowdrops in February and March. We now open the garden during the snowdrop season on two or three weekend afternoons from 1pm to 4pm, advertised locally and on our website. There is a large collection planted mainly between the Wars by Lady Grey, who was a great bulb enthusiast; over time a number of natural hybrids have evolved and multiplied, and every now and then boffin's descend on us and give them cultivar names on what to a layman might appear to be tiny differences. They are planted in large drifts throughout the garden, often with winter aconites, and make a fine display, telling us all that spring is not far away.

The snowdrops are followed in late March by the daffodils, again nearly all planted by Lady Grey between the Wars; they are therefore all the old varieties and she was particularly fond of the white and paler yellow ones, with single trumpets as opposed to double. Varieties include Seagull, Albatross, King Alfred, Pheasant Eye, Amabilis, Principis, Sirius, and Tenedos. They are planted all over the garden and last well into May. Many of the old bulbs ought to be dug up and divided, but that would be a labour of Hercules. We have recently established different forms of early daffodils like the Lent Lily up the Back Drive under the young beeches.

On the south side of the Hall in the meadow down by the Burn, there are some native fritillaries, Fritillaria meleagris, including some white ones, which can be seen in April.

The autumn colchicums are another feature, whose lush green leaves in spring make a fine contrast to the daffodils; the flowers, mostly purple with some white, appear in September. Nearly all were planted by Mabel Grey and are larger forms than most modern ones.

In Silverwood, the woodland garden, dark blue scillas Scilla sibirica appear in late March and a mixture of Erythronium, the dog-tooth violet, a little later; scillas have always been successful, but erythroniums are a relatively new addition which have performed well. We will be increasing them. We have tried a few species fritillaries as well, but these are proving short lived; Fritillaria pallidiflora flowers well but does not seem to last more than three or four years, while F. pudica and F. michailovsky last barely two. In August, we have a few auratum lilies building up, all from scales off one old bulb. They used to be a wonderful feature in Silverwood twenty years ago, but then they succumbed to a lily virus to which they are known to be vulnerable, apart from one surviving bulb from which we have propagated; we hope it is a stronger strain. Lilium auratum were Lady Grey's favourite, a beautiful white flower with the best scent of all. It will take a long time to build up a good stock. We would also like to establish Cardiocrinum giganteum in Silverwood, another splendid white member of the lily family flowering in June; they take time and trouble to grow here in the cold summers of the north-east coast and have a limitless appetite for leaf compost, but we have collected seed in China and India and some of the resulting bulbs have been planted in the Bog Garden. They take almost eight years to flower from seed here, and are monocarpic, i.e. the plant dies after flowering; however, they leave bulblets behind which grow into new plants. In time we want to have many more.

Other bulbs in Silverwood include maianthemum, lilies of the valley, arisaema (the Cobra Lily), mainly blue forms of camassia and agapanthus, with a few pale yellow daylilies.

On the Rockery, after some early aconites and snowdrops, there are some low species tulips in April and May and quite a few clumps of cyclamen with spring leaves and autumn flowers. The blue Triteleia paniculata make a good show by the stone path through the middle, and there are also a number of different alliums.

The meadows on the north and east sides of the Hall are a lovely feature in May, where Lady Mary planted late single coloured tulips in four or five different shades in the long grass to follow on from the daffodils; the bulbs last about four years, so we replant regularly. They can look very effective with the other wild flowers and she used to call it her Botticelli meadow.

Along the top of the second terrace on the south side of the Hall, there is a planting of agapanthus. These are the originals of the well known ‘Headbourne Hybrids’ which were bred from seed collected in South Africa by Lewis Palmer in 1948. He was Mabel Grey’s brother and gave some plants to her which have been divided over the years to fill the whole border on top of the wall. They flower in August to form a brilliant blue line. Other South African bulbs around the top terrace include crinums, while some red Schizostylis coccinea have established themselves in the stone steps at the east end. Nature is often an interesting gardener and we shall leave them.

Howick is perhaps best known for Silverwood, the woodland garden started by Lord Grey in 1930. There is an extensive collection of mainly species rhododendrons which is still being added to, with a few of the better hybrids like 'Loder's White', 'Penjerrick', 'Princess Alice', 'King George', and a number of red ones derived from Rh. griersonianum. The large leaf species include mature specimens of Rh. falconeri, rex, calophytum, montroseanum, fictolacteum and macabeanum with young plants of grande, sino-grande, and kesangiae. Other well known ones are decorum, augustinii, sutchuenense, campylocarpum, fargesii, williamsianum, rubiginosum, insigne, and reticulatum, all from good forms. Tender species not often seen on the east coast include fragrantissimum, griersonianum, crassum and facetum.

Lord Grey was well connected in the gardening world, his uncle being George Holford of Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire (now the largest arboretum in the UK, owned and managed by the Forestry Authority), while Giles Loder of Wakehurst Place in Sussex (now an offshoot of Kew Gardens) was a great friend; a lot of rhododendrons were given to him by them from new collections being introduced from China and the Himalayas, but sadly he kept only the most rudimentary of notebooks, so we now have no accurate information on the origins of most of the old rhododendrons in Silverwood. Nowadays they flower from late March, which makes them vulnerable to spring frosts, until late May, with some continuing on into June. We are often lucky in avoiding frost, being close to the sea, but not always. Some of the rhododendrons are well worth seeing for their spectacular new leaf growth in June, which can be as interesting as their flowers, the best being Rh. kesangiae.

Apart from the well known and sweet smelling yellow azalea from the Caucasus, Rhododendron luteum and its hybrids, most of the other azaleas from America and Japan find our summers a little cool and do not always flourish; schlippenbachii and albrechtii from Japan are two of the best. Other woodland genera which were tried by Lord Grey but which didn't really thrive were Enkianthus, Menziesia, and Stewartia; all like a good summer by our standards, but Pieris, Gaultheria, Vaccinium and Leucothoe on the other hand grow well. The Pieris in particular in May/June are lovely with their long racemes of white flowers, followed by young leaves coloured red to warn the insects not to eat them while they are poisonous, before fading into a pale green.

He found many other plants which flourish here and they include Eucryphia from Chile such as glutinosa, and cordifolia (sadly, we lost a large tree of the latter in a storm in 1997, squashed with a mature Chilean Firebush, Embrothrium coccineum, by a falling Spanish Chestnut), as well as 'Nymansay' (a hybrid of the two), and lucida and milliganii from Australia.They all have lovely white flowers in high summer. There is a fine specimen of Clethra delavayi from China with racemes of white flowers in August, and two good Drimys winteri from Chile flowering in June. Crinodendron hookerianum with its red lantern bells in July is also from Chile, while Hydrangea, Mahonia, and Magnolia thrive. We are particularly proud of two magnificent Magnolia campbellii at the east end of Silverwood, which are seventy five years old, 15m high, and covered with pink/rose coloured flowers in late March or early April most years; some years they have a rest and flower less vigorously. Magnolia wilsonii, sinensis, mollicomata, denudata , kobus, watsonia, stellata, salicifolia are all represented in the garden, as well as some hybrids. Apart from acuminata, the American magnolias do not tolerate our summers.

He was particularly fond of Cercidiphyllum japonicum, a beautiful tree from China and Japan, with delicate almost round leaves in spring which turn a lovely yellow/pink/rose colour in autumn, giving off a characteristic strawberry-like scent which can permeate a whole area around them; there are a number in Silverwood, and elsewhere in the garden.

Equal attention has been paid to ground cover, particularly by Lady Mary over the last thirty years and there is a wide variety of herbaceous material. Hellebores appear early and primroses follow quickly with lungwort, heucheras, dentaria, euphorbias, trillium, and other woodland plants. Later on there are many Primula, particularly sikkimensis, florindae and viallii, with a varied mixture of home grown candelabra hybrids. In most years, we have a lot of the Himalayan poppy, Meconopsis. The blue ones include Meconopsis betonicifolia, grandis, (with a few white ones of both), and x sheldonii, while home grown plants of the monocarpic napaulensis can be yellow, rose, pale blue or white, and up to six feet high; the much smaller yellow dhwojii and blue quintuplinerva are interesting but not long lived, while the small red punicea from China only lasts one year and has never yet produced viable seed here. Ourisia from New Zealand is another flourishing herbaceous plant in a number of forms, as are Smilacina, Smyrnium perfoliata a curious biennial from Greece, and Dactylorrhiza majalis from the orchid family. At the south-east end of Silverwood, just where the path comes to the bridge over the road, there is a young Chusquea culeou, a bamboo from Chile which appears to be vigorous and ornamental.

While the shrubs may be quieter in July and August, there is still much to be seen; the eucryphias alone are worth a visit in August, and the hydrangeas as well in September, before the year ends with a good display of autumn colour, weather permitting.

These are on the south side of the Hall below the terrace and south of the Tea Room in the East Quadrant. They are planted to flower mainly in the summer after Silverwood has quietened down and are meant to be at their best from late June, through July and into August.

They consist mainly of herbaceous perennials with a few shrubs, while the gaps are filled in with annuals such as cosmos and tobacco plants. They are full of crambe, geraniums, mallows, lupins, delphiniums, and poppies etc., while below the top terrace the roses are edged with giant catmint. Roses at Howick are often surprisingly temperamental due to our cool summer and we have to be selective; ‘Golden Celebration’, 'Mary Rose', ‘Frensham’, ‘Deep Secret’, 'Winchester Cathedral', and ‘Perdita’ are all planted below the first terrace, while ‘New Dawn’ is below the yew hedge west of the goldfish pond.

On either side of the main terrace steps are fine old plants of Choisya ternata from Mexico and Carpenteria californica from California, both with white flowers in June and July respectively.

The Clock Border on the south side of the Tea Room and the East Wing is being completely replanted in 2005. It was fallowed in 2004 to get rid of bindweed and ground elder, both of which had taken over. The planting scheme includes climbers on the walls, a few flowering shrubs, and a lot of later herbaceous perennials to give a good show from late July onwards, with astilbe, veronicastrum, day lilies, sidalcea, kitaibela, hosta, eryngium, and romneya etc. A wide variety of annuals of all sizes will be used to fill the gaps in the early years until the border matures.

The rockery has also been replanted in recent years. Because there is so much out at Howick in the spring, we have concentrated more on summer alpines. The upper half has species tulips and other spring bulbs, while the lower half is devoted almost entirely to later alpine and herbaceous plants. A scree-type mound in the middle accommodates some of the high altitude alpines, while around the base of a large Atlantic cedar at the top, there are a number of succulents, particularly Sempervivens and Delosperma. There are campanulas, geraniums, erodiums, aciphyllas, autumn gentians, dwarf hostas and astilbes, alpine poppies, ferns, veronicas, and a white dwarf lily from Taiwan called Lilium formosanum var pricei; shrubs include low cistus, hebe, ceanothus, andromeda, and ledum.

The Bog Garden is a relatively new feature. It lies north-west of the Hall and immediately west of the sawmill. It was always a boggy area and twelve years ago it was dug out to form a small pond. The surrounding area has been planted with all the herbaceous plants grown from seed collected on expeditions abroad for the arboretum (which opens next year in April 2006); there are a lot from China, but also from India, North America, New Zealand, Japan and Europe. There are still a few plants from garden sources which were put in right at the beginning, but these are slowly being replaced. It is meant to show natural plants unimproved by controlled cross- breeding.

One unusual plant which attracts quite a lot of comment is Rheum alexandrae, of which there are a number of clumps. They come from wet ground at high altitude in different parts of Sichuan in south-west China, and have striking flowering spikes covered in drooping cream bracts. They are easy to grow, not easy to flower, but they seem to like our cool climate. There are a number of different Chinese and European salvias, an Indian nepeta, lots of primulas, a few delphinium which rarely last more than a couple of years, tall Chinese aconites which last much longer, arisaemas (the Cobra Lily) mainly from China and Japan, cardiocrinums from China and Japan (the latter not nearly so good), trollius from Europe and the Far East, Chinese and Indian rodgersias and astilbes, and many other species of all descriptions. Because the great majority were all collected as seed in September/October, they tend to flower in July, August and September; the Bog Garden therefore follows naturally on from Silverwood and the borders in front of the Hall.

To give it structure, a number of trees and shrubs have also been planted in and around it from our expeditions, mainly cotoneaster, berberis, roses, and deutzias, but also including a Chinese poplar and euptelea, a swamp cypress from Maryland in America, cercidiphyllum from both China and Japan, and, just by the water at the north end of the pond, a young Glyptostrobus pensilis, a very rare and unusual conifer from North Vietnam of perhaps modest horticultural value! While it would be helpful to label many plants, it would turn the Bog Garden into a botanic garden and spoil much of its natural effect. Labelling is a difficult question to which there seems to be no sensible answer; no one denies its usefulness but it is so difficult to do acceptably.

All round the garden are interesting trees, particularly maples. On the Front Drive north of the Hall are three large Acer cappadocicum from Turkey, while nearer the East Wing are two very good vigorous young plants of Acer davidii with red new growth, grown from seed collected in China in 1992. The Paper Bark maple, Acer griseum, can be seen in a number of places with its distinctive peeling reddish bark, and there is a splendid old Acer palmatum and Acer nikoense in Silverwood which colour bright red in autumn. Acer capillipes, rufinerve, japonicum, palmatum var dissectum, circinatum, and longipes ssp longipes can all be seen with many others, while there are a number of different old birches of uncertain origin and name, but close to Betula utilis and jacquemontii, with a fine pink barked Betula albosinensis var septemtrionalis below the bottom terrace. Quite a few young birches have also been planted from wild seed, including. utilis, utilis var prattii, ermanii, papyrifera, szechuanica, and jacquemontii.

There is a good example of the Handkerchief Tree, Davidia involucrata (we have just lost another one to honey fungus), south-east of the Hall, and many interesting Sorbus, including a rare Sorbus harrowiana with its distinctively large leaflets, half way down the Front Drive on the south side. Sorbus hupehensis flourishes in a number of places, while the Whitebeams are well represented by a Sorbus 'Mitchelli' on the bank below the Croquet Lawn, and a S. vestita on the path south of Silverwood, as well as other native ones. Opposite the S. vestita is a real curiosity; looking like a large broom, it is in fact an Olearia virgata from the North Island of New Zealand. Cherries are frequent, both for their flower and autumn colour. The Monterrey Cypress, Cupressus macrocarpa, is all over the place as background greenery, while Queen Victoria herself planted the Algerian Oak, Quercus canariensis, near marker post 7.

Sea Buckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides, is a well known shrub with grey green foliage and orange yellow berries in autumn; by the Burn on the south side of the Hall, below the bottom terrace and upstream from the top damn, you can see a Chinese form called var procera, growing as a tree with a single stem. It's parent in China was a 20m high forest tree and a remarkable sight in full fruit; we wait to see if the offspring will do the same, and also if it is female. North-west of the Croquet Lawn is a nice plant of Cotinus coggygria with particularly good autumn colour, and beyond it, a mature Cucumber Tree, Magnolia acuminata from America.

These are a selection of the trees to be seen, both in the garden and in the new arboretum mainly to the east of it, and very many more are being planted for the future. A separate pamphlet on the arboretum will be produced next year and all the trees and shrubs in it should be labeled by the end of 2006 – there are over 10,500.

The gardens are open daily from 12 noon until 6 p.m. until the end of October.

We hope you enjoy your visit and wish to come again. We welcome all comments and please feel free to let us know what you think – the kiosk in the car park has comment forms for your use.