So grateful to welcome visitors

Over the Easter weekend, like many of you, we welcomed people into our garden for the first time this year. In our case, it was my parents – both well into their 70s – who sat and shivered a while as we provided cups of tea! (In fairness, we were fortunate – we found a spot sheltered from that stiff north wind, and the sun actually tried its best for a couple of hours.) And it was lovely to show them how the garden is looking, even if the cold weather has rather brought things to a bit of a standstill. Dad, particularly, is a very keen – and annoyingly green-fingered! – gardener, so was impressed by the blossom on the Ribes sanguineum and the first hint of blooms on the weigela shrubs. I’ve a new one this year – ‘Bristol Snowflake’ – which promises white flowers and should be a lovely contrast to the red of the ‘Slingco’ variety. That said, the garden is still a long way from its best but it didn’t matter – it was lovely to be out there with my parents again, and I feel very fortunate that we were able to do it. I know that GN readers have certainly not taken their gardens for granted in this last year, but even so, I found myself being very grateful to have an outside space in which to welcome visitors. And despite the weather, in the magazine this week we are very much looking ahead to summer. I particularly like the idea of a patch just for cut flowers (page 18), while there is some great advice in our feature on getting the right plants first time (page 24). Lots to do – most of all, have a great gardening week.