This week our family weekend trip was replaced by an Easter week away, coming back to spring after a week in the Norwegian mountains was all the more striking given the contrast with the snow and sub-zero temperatures. 

The spring border is now at it’s peak, with small tête à tête daffodils, naturalising hyacinths (all planted from bulbs bought in flower at various supermarkets) and scillas as well as budding shrubs, including a small edible cherry.

This year there are fewer pinks and dark reds, the hyacinths appear to be changing their colour as they naturalise, something we need to rectify next year.

The small potted flowering cherry by the front door was almost in flower when we left, other buds on the same plant have now caught up with the earlier flowering twigs close to the wall and it’s now a race with the tall columnar flowering cherry (prunus amanagowa) to see which opens first. I hope to have a spring garden party when they are fully open! (Hopefully in good weather).

The pear tree has also clearly enjoyed a warm week with buds also starting to burst.

The last of the winter viburnum bodnantense flowers are still glorious while the leaves are now also fully out and the faint scent is more.marked.

The red flowering currant is also at it’s spring peak. I really like the raspberry red flowers, but it’s an undeniably scrappy shrub in shape and the rather unfortunate cat pee smell makes it unappealing as a cut flower. However, as with previous years I’ve taken the risk and cut a few branches for a base in combination with the first opening (and by contrast deliciously scented) skimmia blooms, some ivy with black berries, corkscrew hazel and a fully in bloom camellia. It will be interesting to see how these all survive in a vase…

I love having fresh flowers in the house and growing your own is undeniably better for the environment than buying often imported or greenhouse grown blooms.

Other shrubs in flower currently include this box.We have several in the garde that seem to be affected by either or both of box caterpillar and box blight, but so far at least this one has remained unaffected.

In the back garden, the waves of the chionodoxa are really at their peak now, they must spread by themselves as we are now starting to see them in our peony bed cleared 2 years ago.

This spring time is a good opportunity to plan for new plantings in the autumn.

Similarly, the plum and pear border have a few rather lost daffodils and many tulips that may not flower this year. I’m keeping an eye on this bed for the rest of the spring to see if it needs to be refreshed next autumn too.

The camellias are all in bud but this red flowered shrub is fully out and covered in bright red flowers. It is incredibly beautiful, but I always feel the rose like flowers and glossy green leaves are somehow a little artificial or don’t really belong in the bright Scandinavian spring.

Our second rhododendron is also out now, and after removal of some tree branches shading it and a renovation prune last year, it’s looking magnificent.

Also now coming to a peak are the hellebores. Although breeding has made the flower stalks a bit more upright, many of them still nod downwards, but a few sacrificed to float in water and the flowers are an exotic revelation…

Like this they last a surprisingly long time indoors.

Anyway, that’s enough of a spring update for now. Time to go and plan the next holiday!