APRIL 2025

As the garden seems to have taken its time to emerge this year I thought that this month would be a good moment to champion some of those plants in the garden here that come into full bloom at this briefest of moments before discreetly withdrawing until next year. 

Pulmonaria (Lungwort)

These plants are so named as they were thought to cure diseases of the lungs due to the leaves theoretically resembling diseased lungs! Perhaps not the most complimentary description of this rather charming plant. It is a low growing ground cover plant, but forms a beautiful carpet of flowers in blues and pinks at this time of year. They seem to be a favourite of our bee and insect community as they always seem to be the first flowers they seek out. The plants occur naturally in woodlands, and therefore work well in semi or deeper shade, but also happily tolerate full sun. They are an easy plant to grow, and will spread underneath other plants and across borders at a leisurely pace. 

Bergenia (Elephants Ears)

Sometimes forgotten and overlooked these mostly spring flowering plants have vibrant strong stemmed flowers in shades from white to purple. Occasionally repeat flowering they are tolerant of both very dry and very wet conditions, which allows them to be mixed into a variety of different environments. A number of breeding programmes throughout Europe have brought some interesting cultivars into circulation including some of the recent composer named cultivars. Worth searching out are those with strong autumnal colour to the foliage, usually the descendants of Bergenia ‘Eroica’ since as evergreens they will hold this colour throughout the winter into the new year. 

Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)

A really beautiful bulb for this time of year, most plants of which won’t grow much above 30cm. There are many varieties to choose from, many in shades of classic blue, some that have darker purples, soft yellows and pinks, and others crystalline whites. They can be intermixed with other bulbs and plants but look especially dramatic and effective when grown by themselves. They can be used as winter flowering bulbs in pots forced indoors, but also make an impactive display outdoors.  They can be used as a rather effective hedging/edging to a bed or border in the garden for some early colour, are easily divided up, and since they are bulbs will die-back and disappear once flowering has finished.

Brunnera (Siberian bugloss)

A plant highly adapted to growing in the shade, and so often a very useful plant for ground-cover with its overall rounded shape and bountiful foliage. It is for these attributes that it is regularly chosen to go in particular and usually difficult spots. For a plant with such structural foliage it has the most delicate and charming blue flowers, a very different side to its personality.  Similar to the flowers of Forget-Me-Nots, but much smaller. They are plants that are generally trouble free and easy to grow. 

Caltha palustris (Marsh Marigold)

A plant known to those with ponds or near to waterways. In summer the grasses, iris and waterlilies will come to dominate the pond but at this time of year these native marginal water plants have the water surface to themselves. They are beautiful as individual specimens but also work well when growing en masse, should you have the space. In the early morning sun these plants have an almost unnatural vibrancy to them with chunky and glossy foliage. They may need some division should they become too big, and any old foliage remaining can be tidied in the autumn, but with extensive hardiness these plants require very little maintenance. 

Hellebore (Christmas Rose)

Well these do flower for a long time and are not so much of a fleeting flower. However they are of such good value at this time of year that I felt they needed inclusion.

To many gardeners these plants need little introduction, especially at this time of year. Through the summer one may forget about them, but these are useful structural plants particularly in areas of shade and semi-shade, they do well in woodland settings. The old foliage of deciduous species and flowers should be cut back to keep the plants tidy. They are readily divided, and relatively easy to care for. They produce a good quantity of seed and from this can be cultivated new types of hellebores, always fun to see what pops out in the mix!

Soon all these plants will be overshadowed by the bigger and more strident summer flowering perennials, some will withdraw completely whilst others stay and provide beautiful accompanying foliage for later in the season, the bergenia especially. This is a small selection and particularly personal to the garden here, but you will hopefully be able to find a few of these passing stars somewhere in your garden.