Gardener’s notebook

Gardening editor Paula Mcwaters tells you how to get the best from your plot in April

When I was little, every year my father always took us out into Kent, past fields full of spring lambs, to see the primroses. They grew in profusion in the woods, and in those days we used to pick a bunch – not something I’d do now from the wild – to bring back for my mother. It’s carefree childhood memories such as these that not only mark the seasons but also help sow the seeds for a lifelong love of plants, and I’ve grown native primroses Primula vulgaris in my garden ever since. Last April at Great Dixter (greatdixter.co.uk), I saw them growing in charming combination with the tiny evergreen maidenhair fern Adiantum venustum. When happy – in a damp spot in partial shade – it will send out its fan-shaped fronds to form a nice dense mound of ground cover; both pretty and useful. Among these I’ve tucked a pretty little primrose-coloured narcissus called ‘Sailboat’ with slightly windswept-looking petals that flutter in the breeze, as its name suggests. They make a perfect trio.