THE WEATHER -

A typical April mixed bag of weather, with lots of sunshine and a good sprinkling of showers! A cool start to the month, but warming up in the second week. By the 23rd, the weather had become very warm, with beautiful sunshine all day. This continued until the 26th, when thunderstorms broke out in the evening and into the night. Cooler showery weather continued until the end of the month, with rain all day on the 28th. Maximum temperature 24°C (76°F), minimum temperature minus 3°C (24°F).

If you are looking for a colourful early-flowering plant, then look no further than Thermopsis caroliniana! This is a herbaceous perennial, which in my garden grows to around 2 ft tall. It has cheerful yellow spikes of pea-like flowers, rather like a Lupin, and lovely trifoliate grey-green leaves. The newly emerging flower stems are a charcoal grey, with softly silver hairs - wonderful!

I love Tulips, and this is one which I bought and planted last year. It is called 'Carnival de Nice', and has wonderful white and red semi-double flowers, and a narrow white edge to each leaf. You never know when you buy them how bulbs are going to turn out when they flower, but I have to say that I'm very pleased with these! Seen in the picture growing behind them are Lupins, and to the left, Astrantia major 'Sunningdale Variegated'.

I have a list of plants which I desperately want - and usually can't get! However, sometimes I get lucky, and this is one of those plants on the list which I've finally found. It's called Edgworthia chrysantha (syn. E. papyrifera), and is a shrub whose pretty yellow tufts of fragrant tubular flowers are borne on bare stems in spring. The stems of this shrub are often sold as dried material for flower arranging, stripped and bleached, and have an unusual form. They are often used in Ikebana and abstract arrangements. Now you know why I wanted this!! The flowers are easily damaged by frost, so I'll need to find a sunny, sheltered spot to plant it.

A really pretty shrub in flower in the garden this month is Fothergilla major. This has beautiful fluffy white flowers with prominent stamens and lime-green buds, which appear at first on bare stems. As the flowers mature, the leaves begin to emerge, as seen in the picture. The plant prefers a slightly acid soil, but doesn't mind partial shade or full sun. I bought this two years ago, and it had a few small flowers last year, but this year, it is covered in them!

Fritillaria imperialis or Crown Imperial, is one of the most spectacular bulbs in flower in the garden at the moment. It grows to around 3 ft tall, with strong stems and linear leaves arranged around the stem. The stems elongate, and are suddenly bare, but at last, the flower buds form in a ring right at the top of the stem, crowned by a tuft of leaf-like bracts. Each bell-like flower droops its head, and small droplets of nectar form inside each one. They are available in orange, yellow and red, and the orange and yellow forms are pictured above. They can sometimes be shy to flower, but the secret of getting them to flower reliably is to plant the bulbs very deep, at least a foot deep, or even a bit more. This is in contrast to the usual rule-of-thumb which says that a bulb should be planted to around twice its height in depth. The only drawback to these plants is the smell, which some people liken to foxes. It is certainly very pungent! However, unless you stick your nose right into the flower (not recommended unless you are a contortionist!) or you have it growing in an enclosed space, then the smell isn't usually a problem.

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening!!

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

RESURRECTION
Patience Strong

All things are bursting into life from out the winter's gloom,
All things are turning towards the light, deep in the earth's dark tomb.
The trees are bright with swelling buds, their gay green banners furled,
There is no death - the cry rings out across the grieving world......

The Christian faith is pinned upon this mighty, glorious fact,
We humans live our lives by fear and torments racked -
And yet each Eastertide the Truth is brought to us again,
The Truth that is the answer to our doubting and our pain.....

He rose again - He came to life - and thus set all men free.
Death is a dream from which we wake to immortality.