In 1852 Mrs Gaskell wrote in her letters about the vegetables that were growing in the garden. In another letter she tells of being given rhubarb, though whether she meant rhubarb stalks for cooking or a root of rhubarb for growing, is not clear. I suspect it was a root.
It was not the best day for visiting a garden. The day, Wednesday, started grey and cloudy, progressed to misty and then spread that thin, wet, Manchester drizzle over everything. The tulips drooped, the flowers of the magnolia stellata hung limply and the old daffodil flowers were no longer just shrivelled but were definitely dead! So we had not chosen the best day for our Meet the Gardeners Day at Elizabeth Gaskell’s House.
In a letter dated 2 March 1852, Mrs Gaskell wrote, “The old red camellia has seven flowers all out on it. Meta’s that AA gave her, has two-varigated single.” (Meta was Mrs Gaskell’s daughter. I don’t know who AA was.)
The two camellias in the present garden were in flower at the end of March when I took photos of them. They are still in flower now. The name of the variety is Comtessa Lavinia Maggi.
