Choice plants in April
'The garden in April often looks great after the drabness of winter, but it's still worth checking borders carefully for winter losses as well as looking ahead to see if you can improve displays later in the year. To help you choose the right plants, I've picked a few of my favourites that are looking their best right now. I've also thrown in a few timely tips on easy ways you can improve your garden.'
- Nursery Manager
Flower frenzy
'Azaleas may not flower for long, but they make up for their short display with spectacular effects in late spring and early summer.'
Top of our shopping list this month is this compact, evergreen azalea that's ideal for brightening the front of a shrub border with its masses of frilly, reddish-purple flowers in May. Best grown in part shade, but it copes well in sun as long as the soil is not allowed to dry out.
Masses of funnel-shaped, wavy edged, white flowers from now onwards, above small, dark green leaves, retained all year. This dwarf, evergreen azalea makes a great, all-year patio plant. It requires ericaceous compost and partial shade.
We love the compact, rounded trusses of bright pink, semi-double, funnel-shaped flowers during late spring. This bushy, deciduous azalea is one of the most popular pink flowering varieties because it's guaranteed to create an eye-catching display.
Vertical takeoff
'A few shrubs actually do better when trained up against a wall where they can benefit from the extra shelter and warmth.'
I really rate this elegant shrub for its graceful, arching branches that are wreathed in large white flowers during April and May. The delicate, soft green foliage, which turns to shades of yellow and orange in autumn, are a bonus.
Dainty clusters of white spring flowers that resemble lily-of-the-valley, appear as the glossy, red young leaves are at their most striking. This handsome, rounded evergreen shrub is ideal for a shrub border on well drained acid soil.
Mexican orange blossom produces wonderfully scented, star-shaped, white flowers in late spring among glossy, aromatic, dark green leaves. This handsome, compact and easy-to-grow shrub is a valuable garden mainstay for a protected site in sun.
Undercover agents
'With so much colour in the garden it's easy to forget the understorey of early flowering perennials that take the display onwards into the summer months.'
Alternatively, illuminate a partially shaded border during May and June with the arching stems of pure white flowers of this charming bleeding heart. It looks lovely planted with euphorbia. Easy to grow, it also copes well in sun provided the ground is kept moist.
I'm a real fan of the Bishop's hat, as it's commonly called, with its mitre-shaped leaves that turn a beautiful shade of reddish-brown in autumn. Tiny, crimson and pale yellow flowers suspended on wiry stems are produced in mid- to late spring above young bronze-red leaves.
Another great groundcover, this delightful, purple-flowered lesser periwinkle bears sumptuous, dark plum-purple flowers over a long period - often April to September - above a carpet of dark-green leaves. Flowering best in full sun it's an ideal choice for small gardens.
Brilliant shrubs
''Early flowering shrubs splash great splodges of colour around the garden during the spring sometimes with surprising results - providing something new to admire every day, whatever the weather.'
Flowering currants aren't everyone's cup of tea, but I love them. This is perhaps the most spectacular with hanging clusters of white-eyed, dark red flowers, which smother the bush in April. Easy to grow, in any well-prepared soil, and does well to be cut back hard after flowering in May.
One of the joys of early spring when it bears elegant clusters of tiny blooms that look like bunches of lily-of-the-valley. The flowers are joined by glossy, bright red young leaves that progressively turn pink, creamy white and then dark green.
Treat yourself to this gorgeous, evergreen shrub with showy blooms of deep rose-pink carried from March to May. Like all camellias it requires an acid soil, but also makes an excellent specimen for a large container filled with ericaceous compost.
Early clematis
'Every garden could be improved with the addition of one or two early flowering clematis, whether it's to decorate a vertical surface or structure, or hide an eyesore.'
Worth tracking down for its spectacular, semi-double creamy-pink early summer flowers each with a salmon-pink center. This vigorous, early flowering clematis is perfect for training over a pergola or garden arch, and is suitable for a north-facing site.
Small, delicate, bell-shaped flowers that are pale pink darkening to towards the base, with deeper pink undersides and cream anthers. This is early-flowering clematis with flowers appearing from April to May followed by fluffy seed-heads.
