The garden in April
Kari-Astri Davies is savouring the gradual re-awakening of her Wiltshire garden
April is often harsh. Spring is later for us. Hazels and wild plums in the copse show only specks of green, while trees just a mile or so away are lush with fresh new growth. But very soon, the Prunus padus, planted a few years ago, will be bedecked with heads of white blossom. Spring is here!
Wood bed walk
You may have gathered that the wood bed sustains me when the rest of the garden is asleep. The Himalayas, a raised border, is also being planted for longer interest, so there will be at least two places to admire treasures when little else is up. One of the earlier arrivals is Disporum. You might look at an immature specimen and say: ‘Why would you want that dowdy, wispy thing?’ Disporum are like a fragile Solomon’s seal with flared flowers, hence a colloquial name, fairy bells. Some, such as D. longistylum ‘Green Giant’, can grow to 5ft (1.5m), and when smothered in flowers, is a subtle delight. I have yet to experience this, as it’s still bulking up. When I saw Disporum longistylum ‘Night Heron’ in Keith Wiley’s book, Designing and Planting a Woodland Garden, the red mist of acquisition descended. ‘Night Heron’ has dark, purpled leaves when it emerges, against pale green, fringed flowers. Apparently, this cultivar originated from famous US plant explorer Dan Hinckley’s expedition to China in 1996 and was distributed by his then nursery, Heronswood, near Seattle. I couldn’t source ‘Night Heron’ anywhere: out of stock, out of stock, and so it went on. Then, last summer, it came full circle. I spotted it at Keith Wiley’s nursery in Devon. I pounced on it with a greedy glint in my eye. Disporum longistylum is happy in light shade and moist soil. However, hardy but new growth, as I found last April, can be hit by late frost. It associates well with ferns, hostas, epimediums and other woodlanders. May is the big flowering tree and shrub month, but April has its moments. I used to live near the Bath Botanical Gardens. In April, big magnolias would be in full bloom. Huge, cupped sugar-pink flowers set against pale
“And the sun has stolen out, Peered, and resolved to shine at seven On dabbled lengthening grasses, Thick primroses and early leaves uneven,” edward Thomas, ‘April’
blue skies; magnificent. Then, some years, a frost would turn the show to browned mush overnight. There are other shrubs and trees flowering in April less vulnerable to frost or likely to result in sore disappointment.
Bringing the bees
Last year, I noticed evergreen shrubs were attracting bees, so I looked more closely. A purple-leaved Coprosma had odd, fuzzy, white-flowering filaments along its stems, and Lonicera pileata was packed with small green bells. I attended a talk by nurseryman Bob Brown last autumn. He was scathing about Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’, but embraced S. x confusa ‘Kew Green’. ‘Rubella’ works in pots, ‘Kew Green’ in the garden. ‘Kew Green’ has subtle greenishyellow flowers nestled in a ruff of evergreen foliage. It’s a honeypot for early bees, especially on warmer days. The scent is wonderful. More unusual are Azara, Chilean evergreen shrubs. I grow A. microphylla, a small tree with loose, whippy growth, hardy to approximately -10°C. On warm days, you’ll catch a whiff of chocolate-vanilla; and then another waft. Draw closer and you’ll see tiny tufts of yellow flowers all along under the branches.
“The field and gardens lovely hours Begin and end with thee; For what’s so sweet, as peeping flowers And bursting buds to see,” John Clare, ‘The Shepherds Calendar – April’