The nightly frosts have put the garden three weeks to a month behind. The soil is dry too. April is living up to its reputation for delivering the unexpected. Our Peruvian Scilla (below) way ahead last year compared to this.
The Pond Garden is the first to reveal its hand with vivid yellows, whites and purples. Marsh Marigolds and the blue haze of Brunnera are the stars this year.
A crab spider waits in a blossom of our Exochorda The Bride, one shrub that lights up the garden in April
Beth Chatto’s Essex Garden is unusual in having so many different environments. In April its woodland comes alive
Bowles Mauve
Pinky-purple fireworks explode all over these wonderful wall-flowers from April onwards. They are frequently the stars of the spring plant-stalls and keep flowering through to early summer.
Top plants – when they flower – what they bring to the garden
| 1. Bowles Mauve | April-June | An explosion of purple fireworks |
| 2. Bergenia Eroica | Mar-May | Vivid magenta bells |
| 3. Exochorda the Bride | Mar-May | Bouquets of white blossom |
| 4. Tulips | Mar-May | Colourful classics (+ some horrors) |
| 5. Dwarf Iris | Mar-Apr | Short spikes of purple and yellow |
| 6. Erythronium | April | Studies in yellow delicacy |
| 7. Epimedium | Mar-April | Quivering patterned shields |
| 8. Aquilegia | Mar-July | Spurred elegance in every colour |
| 9. Variagated Honesty | Mar-May | White and green architecture |
| 10. Peruvian Scilla | April-May | Crown of indigo stars |
And more...
| Viburnum Birkwoodii |
| Viburnum Davidii |
| Candelabra Primula |
| Snowflake |
| Erysimum Ruston Royal |
| Geranium Alba |
| Marsh Marigolds |
| Creeping Phlox |
| Tanacetum Densum |
| Day Lilies |
| Camassia |
| Brunnera |
The Pond Garden
The Pond Garden from the start of the month has Bowles Mauve Wallflower firing up its endless purple strands opposite nodding clusters of Snowflake. It matches fire with water as Marsh Marigolds still flame from pond baskets, and a creeping lilac Phlox bursts over the rockery retaining wall.
Garden Rooms in April
Beth Chatto's
The doyenne of ‘right plant in the right place’, Beth Chatto created her garden in one of the driest counties in the UK. Glorious in many months of the year, it offers wildly different conditions in distinct areas. In April, the large area of woodland garden is a delight.
Other unusual elements are the dry gravel garden; never watered but still full of vibrancy, and a series of linked ponds.
The Gravel Garden is pictured.
Wild spectacle: Bluebell woods
Britain has the world’s best bluebell woods. As well as the indigo blue haze that slips into the distance, you get their glorious hyacinth scent. The example pictured below is one of several that are right on Lordship Farm’s doorstep. It’s regularly full of fallow deer.
