There’s plenty of interest in the garden now and here’s a selection of a few plants in flower and looking great at the moment.

Anemone blanda
Bearing cheerful, daisy-like flowers in a range of colours including shades of blue, purple, pink and white in March and April. It’s great for naturalising under trees and shrubs.

 

 

Camellia sasanqua ‘Paradise Pearl’
I spotted this beauty whilst enjoying a visit to Nymans gardens recently. It starts with soft pink buds that then open to masses of pure white semi-double to double flowers with yellow stamens. If you have slightly acidic soil, this is the plant for you.

 

Choisya × dewitteana ‘Aztec Pearl’
An evergreen, relatively compact shrub with slender glossy dark green leaves. In late spring it has clusters of fragrant white flowers tinged pink when in bud. If you’re lucky, it may well flower again in autumn.

 

Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’
This deciduous shrub has oval, mid-green leaves and produces small, creamy-white flowers in May and June. But it’s really grown for the brilliant, flame-coloured stems that are revealed when the leaves, which turn orange-yellow in autumn, fall. It’s best in full sun and works particularly well with red or purple-stemmed varieties of dogwood. The upright stems need to be cut back hard in early spring to promote long shoot extensions.

 

Daphne bholua’Jacqueline Postill’
‘Jacqueline Postill’ has clusters of small, highly fragrant purplish-pink and white flowers held in clusters in January and February followed by rounded, purple-black berries. Place it next to a path where its fragrance can be appreciated as the fragrance produced is really uplifting as if wafts through the winter garden

 

Euphorbia characias subsp.
This handsome Euphorbia has large, dome-shaped, chartreuse-green flowers produced on towering spikes high above the foliage from March to May. It will bring structure and architectural quality to any garden.

 

Hyacinthoides non-scripta
More commonly known as the common bluebell. The wild bluebell tends to grow in wooded areas in shade or dappled sunshine, and flowers for about a month in early spring each year. They make wonderful cut flowers for the house, and their heady scent pervades the air, bringing the promise of summer.

 

 

Magnolia x soulangeana
If you are looking for an ornamental tree that will tolerate wet, soggy soil, you need to look no further than a magnolia. They prefer moist, slightly acidic soil that has been improved with compost or leaf mould as this will get the tree off to a good start.

 

Magnolia stellata
The flowers on Magnolia stellata are lightly scented and open around March/April time before the leaves appear. It’s one of the best magnolias for a small garden.

 

 

Prunus ‘Matsumae amayadori’
Perhaps better known as the Japanese flowering Cherry. Its name, literally, means ‘Matsumae-big-wave’ for its big white flowers with waving petals. It is an eye-catching, small, upright tree with clusters of white flowers which makes a fantastic feature tree with plenty of spring interest.

 

Pyracantha ‘Soleil D’or’
This a tough, hardy evergreen shrub, bearing a profusion of brightly coloured berries at this time of year. During summer, plants produce white blooms which are followed by displays of bright yellow berries, providing food for birds throughout the winter. It is tolerant of a wide range of demanding conditions, including shaded and exposed positions. It grows into a dense thorny evergreen hedge and is perfect for covering boundaries as well as training against a wall.

Tulips
There’s a tulip for every setting, from small “species” tulips in naturalized woodland areas to larger tulips that fit formal garden plantings from beds to borders. This brightly coloured jewel announces Spring’s arrival. Tulips come in enough colours, shapes and sizes to inspire every gardener’s creativity.