Bog Garden

As the stream enters the Lake, some of the water is channelled off to form a Bog Garden, a shallow inlet only a few centimetres in depth. To enter, you must push through dense clumps of the bamboo, Phyllostachys, and cross a small bridge where a beautiful Swamp Cypress, Taxodium distichum, stands sentinel in the water. Surrounded by steeply shelving terraced banks on three sides, the Bog Garden provides a sheltered, rather shady, microclimate hidden away in the centre of the peninsula jutting into the Lake.
The damp and protected conditions encourage spring flowers such as Primula to thrive, alongside marsh-loving sedges, grasses and the airy sprays of Sanguisorba and Cirsium species.

Amongst the many ferns, the rare native Osmunda regalis forms imposing clumps, and is at least 50 years old. This plant has suffered from extensive collection from the wild and is now extinct in many parts of the country. Here also, an unusual shrub, Itea ilicifolia, makes a great late summer show when the handsome holly-like leaves contrast with the long, drooping racemes of greenish-white flowers.