A brief tour, looking at the highlights in my Woodland Garden, Doorstep Pots, White Garden, Pond Garden and Green Roof this month.
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April 2026
A quick look at this
month’s delights
a photo gallery | 2026
The Woodland Garden
My woodland beds enjoy the dappled sunlight afforded by the canopy of a broad cherry-tree. This garden begins flowering in January with early Hellebores, snowdrops, and primroses. Now in April, wood spurges, primulas, lungwort and anemones dominate, with azalea and peony putting in spectacular performances. Solomon’s seal, Aquilegia, Martagon lilies and ivy-leaved cyclamen are still to come!
Cherry Blossom
In the first half of April, the ceiling of my woodland garden is festooned with white blossom, which gently drops over the next few weeks, creating confetti-like carpets and drifts of petals. Later in the season edible peach-coloured cherries appear, which we generously share with the birds.
Solomon’s Seal
This bed progresses very nicely, with shoots of Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum × hybridum) rising up through a ground cover of maiden hair fern (Adiantum venustum) and windflower (Anemone blanda.) Petals from the cherry are scattered on the paths.
Windflower (Anemone blanda)
Here’s a close up of that ground cover: The anemones are such delightful little spring bulbs which form reliable colonies between taller plants, as does the creeping maidenhair fern (Adiantum venustum.) The two co-existing perfectly.
Hellebore Seedling
The hybrid hellebores in my garden continue to surprise me, producing new combinations every year: This beautiful red-spotted seedling is one of the best so far.
Erythronium ‘Pagoda’
I have several clumps of these Dog’s Tooth Violets in my shade beds. They are reliably perennial, and always produce a good display of flowers in April
Brunnera macrophylla
In my woodland beds, the Siberian Bugloss always puts on a good show of forget-me-not like flowers throughout April
Hellebore
This is Hellebore × ericsmithii ‘Winter Moonbeam’ – it’s been growing in the same spot in my garden for nearly two decades. It is one of the longest flowering Hellebores I grow (Jan-May). Plus it has beautiful marbled foliage.
Woodland Peony
Towards the end of April, this beautiful peony opens filling the air with the scent of sweet spices. I used to think it was a pink form of ‘Molly the Witch’, but now I’m not sure. It does so well in dappled shade, forming a clump of glaucous leaves 4ft (1.2m) across, and nearly 3 ft (80cm) tall. It produces 5-8 of these amazing flowers.
Camassia
On my woodland margin, where it gets a bit more sun, I have a clump of Camassia leichtlinii which has thrived here for 20 years. This one has a visiting weevil.
Dwarf Azalea
This small leaved, evergreen azalea has grown in my woodland garden happily for over a decade. In late April, its little twiggy branches carry red trumpet flowers which make a picture hanging over the edge of the bed next to the mossy brick paving.
Doorstep Pots
A cheerful collection of flowers on my front step. The purple Heuchera, violet nemisia, and tall ‘black’ tulips were kept from last year. Only the brilliant orange tulips were new (planted in November)
Tulips
Tulip ‘Sunlover’
A spectacular colour-changing tulip, openeing golden yellow, then transitioning through to deep orange-red.
Tulip ‘Queen of Night’
Tall and elegant, with a tight classic flower shape. At times it appears almost black.
Nemesia & Bee
I overwintered these Nemesia plants in my greenhouse, so they’re early into bloom, much to the approval of this honey bee.
The White Garden
Amelanchier lamarkii comes into bloom in early April – a brief show of perfection that lasts just a few days before petals begin to drop – then it snows for a week.
Starflower (Ipheion ‘Alberto Castillo’)
I love these tiny bulbs – they make winter clumps of fine green foliage, which flower from March to April. In summer they die back allowing surrounding plants to take their place.
Tulips under Amelanchier
These white tulips (‘Purissima’) have done surprisingly well in the light shade of my Amelanchier. I planted them deep to help them become perennial, and it seems to have worked.
Lady Fern
I have quite a lot of ferns. They add an extra dimension to a garden, helping it feel more natural. This Lady fern (Athyrium felix-femina) is close to the house, where I can watch its unfurling fronds.
The Pond Garden
My Mediterranean Pond Garden (aka rose garden) is mainly in flower from May-October, but even in April it is delightful. Notice how the white flowers (thrift and snow-in-summer) are echoed in the White Garden beyond the hedge, helping to link the two areas visually.
Sweet olive (Osmanthus x burkwoodii)
In the corners of my pond garden are two square raised beds, edged with dwarf-box hedges, which I planted a couple of year’s ago with Burkwood Osmathus. These slow-growing shrubs have glossy olive-green foliage, and in April; produce tiny white flowers smelling of jasmine. I plan to clip them into domes as they grow.
Geranium nodosum
This is a very easy cranesbill, with handsome glossy foliage and small purple flowers from April onwards. It’s main vice is self-seeding. It is prolific, and seedlings pop up everywhere.
Geranium pyrenaicum ‘Bill Wallis’
Another small cranesbill, and again rather prolific. It has rounder, soft foliage and produces wiry stems with a succession of tiny purple-blue starry flowers. Easy to grow but seeds around rather freely.
Self-Sown Sea Thrift
Golden Marquerite
I planted three clumps of Anthemis tinctoria ‘E.C. Buxton’ a year ago from little 9cm pots and they flowered all summer with cheery creamy-yellow daisy-flowers. I’m impressed with how strongly their feathery foliage has grown this spring, creating substantial clumps already.
Bergenia ‘Baby Doll’
I’m always in two minds about bergenias. They are supposed to be easy plants, but mine has off years when it will not flower. I can’t work out why. Too wet? Too dry? Fortunately, this year was one of its better displays. BTW, ‘Baby Doll’ is a smaller cultivar of elephant’s ear, growing to just over 15in (40cm) tall.
Blue-eye Grass
This is Sisyrinchium idahoense var. macounii ‘Moody Blues’ – a mid-sized blue-eye grass that has self-sown into my path. It will be in flower before the month is out, but I like this photo that shows its peculiar structure. with odd angles, flat buds and purple nodes on the stems.
Pear Blossom
Among fruit trees, the flowers of the pear are surely some of the finest. They open in clusters with pure white petals, cupping distinct pin-cushions of stamens. The brown sepals create the same five-pointed pattern you see when you cut open a pear through the core.
Purple-Leaf Violet
This is Viola riviniana Purpurea Group – a variation of the common violet with part-purple foliage, elevating it slightly above the ordinary. I once had Viola labradorica purpurea, which had much darker foliage. Neither are scented.
Green Roof
The first shrub to flower on my green roof is Helianthemum ‘Henfield Brilliant’. Its vivid orange flowers shine above mounds of fine silver evergreen foliage, flowering for three weeks from April to May.
Again. a very beautiful inspiring BLOG. Thanks!
:)