Now that the clocks have leapt forward, staff at public gardens across the country are bracing themselves for an influx of visitors, ready to be captivated by spring, be that a crowd of daffodils nodding in the breeze, the wafting scent of an azalea or a carpet of bluebells.
Much of the hard work has already been done: hour after hour of bulb planting, pruning with freezing fingers and backbreaking mulching through autumn and winter, all to put the gardens in good heart for the spring rush. And it is a rush: daffodils and tulips thrust up through the warming soil, buds burst, hungry pollinators forage among the pollen; on and on it goes.
For Sarah Wain, supervisor at West Dean Gardens near Chichester, West Sussex, the best bit about spring is the unfurling of new growth. “All that potential from a sticky, woody silhouette, and then – kaboom – out it comes,” she says. “I love that transition.”
What’s her highlight? Wain could have chosen the white and purple snake’s-head fritillaries that dot the wildflower lawn, or the purple wash of the early crocus, Crocus tommasinianus, like a watercolour painting; instead, it’s a display of salad leaves and herbs growing in pots under glass. “The whole thing just looks like a smorgasbord‚” she says.
Farther north, at the RHS garden Harlow Carr, the cooler, damper climes of Harrogate, Yorkshire, mean curator Paul Cook can eke out spring colour from tulips right through into June. This year, there will be a trail of more than 100 varieties in traditional beds and borders, and in containers – and not just your average terracotta pots, but handbags, wellies, wheelbarrows and even a boat on the lake. The climate also makes an agreeable home for the garden’s signature sky-blue Himalayan poppies (meconopsis) in late May and June.
Bodnant in north Wales boasts the largest staff of any National Trust garden: 25 of them, led by John Rippon, as well as a team of volunteers during their busiest time in June, when the stunning laburnum arch blazes with yellow blooms. For now, though, it’s all about Furnace Hill, 20 acres that are open to the public for the first time. Rippon promises incredible views from this vantage point. “It’s like an impressionist painting full of highlights of pink, mauve, red and white rhododendrons. There’s also a lot of scent, from the azaleas,” he says. “Many of the rhododendrons are more than 100 years old. They’ve got amazing bark and look like iced gems in the landscape.”
Eleven great spring gardens
Rydal Mount, Cumbria
Highlights Want to see daffodils? Where better than William Wordsworth’s home?
Open Daily 9.30am-5pm.
Kew Gardens, Richmond
Highlights Catch the end of a magnificent display of magnolias just as the candyfloss blossom of the garden’s cherry walk gets going.
Open Daily, 10am-6pm.
West Dean Gardens, West Sussex
Open Weekdays 10.30am-5pm, weekends and bank holidays 9am-5pm.
Bodnant, Conwy, north Wales
Open Daily 10am-5pm.
RHS Harlow Carr, Yorkshire
Open Daily 9.30am-6pm.
Borde Hill, Sussex
Highlights There are giant magnolias, huge rhododendrons and a magnificent tulip tree, Liriodendron chinensis.
Open Weekdays 10am-5pm, weekends 10am-6pm.
Broadleigh Gardens, Somerset
Highlights If you’re looking for some inspiration for your own spring bulb planting, this five-acre display garden attached to the bulb nursery is the place to go. As well as the usual daffs and tulips, there’s a woodland area that showcases shade lovers such as trilliums and erythroniums.
Open Weekdays 9am-4pm.
Savill Garden, Berkshire
Highlights The Spring Wood has a jaw-dropping display of rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias. If you prefer something more subtle, steer yourself towards the solomon’s seal, hostas and ferns plus swathes of Narcissus bulbocodium.
Open Daily 10am to 6pm.
Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall
Highlights More than 30,000 Cornish daffodils are in bloom in the woodland walk, and there are 70 veteran camellias and 350 ancient rhododendrons, too.
Open Daily 10-5pm.
Gresgarth Hall, Lancashire
Highlights Garden designer Arabella Lennox-Boyd opens her gardens for only a few days in spring and summer. See this riverside garden in all its spring glory, including a rhododendron hillside, bluebell wood, azaleas and magnolias.
Open 9 April, 14 May and 11 Jun, 11am-5pm.
Hever Castle, Kent
Highlights Hever’s inaugural tulip festival sees 60 varieties planted outside the castle and in the Tudor and Italian gardens.
Open Daily 10.30am-4.30pm.
