It is the ferns that gladden my heart. Every time I return to Wales I am amazed all over again at their lushness. Arm-long fronds of hart’s tongue fern spilling onto the road under mild watery skies, fresh green male-fern confidently peopling a cobbled courtyard, delicate starfishes of maidenhair spleenwort darting across stone walls.
If you are lucky as an elegant, repeated vase-shape amid a soft, flowing sea of. This is punctuated by pale-flowered ‘Norman Hadden’ and distinguished stands of var. ‘Alba’ – a white campanula that looks elegant even when the flowers develop into biscuity seedheads.