April 2025: Here comes the sun (for a bit anyway!)
Posted on April 29th, 2025
The sun has been shining and the weather has been sweet. Though it might be getting chilly again at the beginning of May so hold on a bit before planting out all your tender bedding.
The gardens are enjoying the warmth so far this spring. Though there are been limited rain recently, there is enough moisture still in the soil for the plants to really burst into growth.
Some of our highlights this month include the spirea in the Unusual Fruit Garden and the Peace Garden, which is also home to our wall climbing rose.
Also found in the Peace garden and flowering, pretty in pink, are the Cistus and Deutzia.
For those with an interest in botany, now is a good time to come and see the + Crataegomespilus dardarii located in the Unusual Fruit Garden. This is a graft hybrid (a chimera) of Hawthorn and Medlar and examples of all three plants are currently in blossom letting you see the comparison up close and personal.
Crataegus + Mespilus
= + Crataegomespilus
The 17th Century garden is also coming into bloom, the Lilac with little leaves but a long name (Syringa pubescens subsp. microphylla ‘Superba’) is smelling wonderful, the Rosa rugosa is flowering and we have blossom on the new cherry trees. Alas, there will be no fruit this year as we will be ruthlessly thinning to ensure the trees are well established before they have the strain of bearing fruit. Finger crossed for cherry Jam in 2026!
