It’s been a glorious start to spring, and March has been warm and dry and has produced the most amazing display of flower on our Magnolias. Marwood Spring has been covered in bloom and now April has arrived more Magnolias are bursting into bloom along with the large collection of Camellias. Even after a late frost Camellias can be relied upon to give another flush of colourful flowers whereas Magnolias and Rhododendrons give one spectacular burst of flowers and that is it for the year.
What are charming are some of the new yellow flowering Magnolias. Two of the best are ‘Daphne’ and ‘Lois’ which towards the end of April light up the garden with lovely yellow flowers and not being huge trees they are suitable for most small gardens. They can be seen at the top of the gardens along with other magnolias which at this time of year is a rewarding walk to make. There have been a lot of new cultivars raised and introduced, many very similar and rather bland but ‘Daphne’ and ‘Lois’ are quite stunning.
After the snowdrops and daffodils the colour is blue with swaths of bluebells cascading down the valley under the trees and shrubs. Mid spring already and we are continuing developing our borders to plant new exciting plants. Our bog garden which we try to replant each year and suddenly have to stop working on it by October because of all the rain we get in the winter, we have at last got dug over and are now planting with new and interesting herbaceous plants and hopefully in the summer will give a very colourful display.
Thank you to our enthusiastic band of volunteers who turn up for another day’s work to make the garden attractive for our garden visitors, especially Trevor who has been working on our bog garden, even in muddy conditions to get it ready for our big planting this spring.
Already Rhododendrons are bursting into flower and the developing buds on the wisteria arbour are swelling to give a welcome display in May but do visit the gardens now as the dwarf specie Tulips along the scree garden are a riot of colour. They are a delightful addition to any garden especially small areas in every garden.
Lots of plants for sale in our Plant Sales area with many unusual ones and our tea-room is a good place for a rest after a good walk around the garden.
