I’m biased in my assessment that my birth month is the loveliest, but I’m sure you will allow this to pass as we enter the proper spring season and appreciate its total splendour. April brings swathes of glorious garden colour and the length of daylight to sit out and enjoy the spectacle.
The highlight of this April show must be the later flowering narcissus and the emerging buds of tulips and alliums that extend the colour into May. I’m a passionate container gardener, and my 300+ pots and assorted vessels are now becoming a riot with the bulbs planted last autumn and early winter.
But now I am out and about looking at other spring gardens for the next colour combination or unusual bulb mix to enhance my garden next year.
The joy of gardening is the constant looking ahead to the next season or year. Its why its so good for our mental and health wellbeing. Gardeners always have something to look forward to.
White and lime green is a particular colour combination I have a great fondness for. It works in full sun to calm the vibrancy down and full shade to lift the area out of the darkness. A favourite mix of mine are Thalia narcissus grown with Spring Green viridiflora tulips. The two varieties completely embody the classic palette and lift the spirits. I underplant my Limelight paniculata hydrangeas with this bulb combination and white variegated hostas, and the eight months of colour I achieve is one of the most satisfying I get in my containers.
This planting requires feeding three monthly with slow-release fertiliser to keep the plants growing strongly and healthily
For a richer combination I choose a mixture of Red Riding Hood tulips for March, the narcissus called Salome for April and Purple Emperor alliums and tulip Ronaldo for May and I plant these under Physocarpus Red Lady for the summer and autumn months with its apricot young foliage, deepening to copper later on, and white cluster flowers at the height of summer.
April also throws up a cacophony of perennial colour from euphorbias and pulmonarias. These two stalwarts are reliable, slug resistant and once finished are happy to be cut back to allow other emerging plants to take over their position. Euphorbia robbiae and pulmonaria Diana Clare are my two recommendations for these April flowering standbys.
PLANT OF THE MONTH
Physocarpus varieties,
Physocarpus opulifolius or ‘Ninebark’ are north American shrubs grown for their foliage colour range and ease of cultivation. Varieties come in bright yellow foliage such as Darts Gold through soft apricot coloured Little Ball or Amber Jubilee to the deep red leaved Diablo or Lady in Red. All are easy to grow in pots or borders and are grown for their young foliage colour. Prune back in late winter for the best effect from the young emerging colour and strong growth through the summer.
Bluebells at Thorp Perrow, Bedale, by Caroline Webster GARDEN OF THE MONTH
April is a great month for visiting a woodland garden and this month I recommend you take a trip to Thorp Perrow. With bluebell woods, an arboretum and an April flowering narcissus collection to visit you can find lots of spring inspiration for your own humbler plot, and their birds of prey collection and adventure playground for the young ones make it a great family friendly day out.
‘My garden last year was lovely in the spring and autumn, but I lacked colour in June and July. Do you have any recommendations?’
After the exuberance of May there is what the gardening fraternity call the ‘June gap’ in gardens and there are a few suggestions to fill this. Firstly hardy geraniums, these lovely perennials (not to be confused with pelargoniums) are overlooked by many but they give long lasting displays over June and July and some right into November. Look for the variety Rozanne for the best flowering. Secondly Hemerocallis or day lillies, this clump forming perennial have individual flowers for a day but carried in clusters at the end of arching stems and flower through June and July. Stella d’Oro has bright yellow flowers carried on three foot stems. Finally roses. Lots of gardeners think of roses growing in formal lines in big gardens, but shrub roses are perfect for mixed borders and large containers and flower through June if regularly dead headed and fed well.
‘With the cool wet summer last year my garden grew lots of lush green growth which was knocked back in the January cold snap. What can I do to rejuvenate my garden for a good show this summer.’
Unfortunately, this weather trend looks like it’s here to stay. Wet weather creates lush growth which is very susceptible to frost and cold and die back over winter. So, plants need to be grown ‘harder’ to counteract this lushness. If you look at the packet you will see an NPK number at the top of the contents. This is referring to the ratio of Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potash in the fertilizer, so look for the last two numbers to be higher than the first one. A lot of fertilizers are sold with nitrogen as their main ingredient, and this encourages green growth. My recommendation is to look for feeds higher in phosphates to build up roots, and potash to encourage harder growth and more fruit and flowers. Organic fertilizers, such as fish blood and bone, or rose fertilizers such as Toprose, will give you a fighting chance to fish blood and bone, or rose fertilizers such as Toprose, will give you a fighting chance to grow stronger more resilient plants.
