25-Apr April’s Garden Marvels: Beyond the Blossom

Summary

April’s Garden Extravaganza: From Fritillaries to Pasque Flowers

London’s gardens erupt into a riot of color this April, as spring’s floral crescendo reaches its peak. Delicate fritillaries nod their checkered heads, while the silky-haired pasque flower—Easter’s botanical mascot—whispers tales of ancient dyes and curious cures.

Discover why Warley’s forgotten garden still hides treasures, and where to spot rare blooms like the ghostly white Fritillaria meleagris. Will this be the year you catch the first peonies unfurling?

Return on 25 April for a guided tour through April’s most dazzling garden performers—where horticulture meets history.

Article

Garden Plants

Up to April it has been possible to keep up with new garden plants coming into flower, but now each excursion into gardens sees many new species and genera. Some continue from last month e.g. Bergenia, Primula, Viola, Narcissi, Leucojum, Aubretia, Iberis, Tulips, Bellis, Veronica, Scilla, Chionodoxa, Pulmonarea and wallflowers. New plants starting to appear include yellow corydalis, geraniums, forget-me-nots, spurges, large irises, fritillaries, geums, alliums, stocks and the first flush of new roses.

There are also plenty of brightly-coloured flowers in the bedding schemes of many parks e.g. pansies, wallflowers, tulips, forget-me-nots, primulas, daisies and hyacinths. Good collections of spring garden plants can be found at Clevedon and Ellen Willmot’s abandoned garden at Warley is still a place to hunt for naturalised spring bulbs.

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Fritillaries are very much a feature of April. Both the white and purple chequerboard forms of our native Fritillaria meleagris are commonly found in gardens. They are much rarer in the wild as their flooded water meadow habitat has all but disappeared with concrete embankments along the Thames. Other plants that stand out this month include Trillum, Adonis, Epimedium, Lamium, Brunnera, Mecanopsis, Lithodora, Andromeda, Dodecatheon, Lysichiton and the first peonies.

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A plant very much associated with Easter, which usually falls in April, is the pasque flower Pulsatilla vulgaris. The familiar purple bells and covering of silky hairs are common in gardens, although in the wild this is a nationally scarce plant. There are thirty species of Pulsatilla, some of which can usually be seen at Kew in the rockery, varying from white through red to the more familiar milky-purple.

25-Apr April’s Garden Marvels: Beyond the Blossom Section Image

These plants are more at home in alpine situations and prefer short, chalky turf. Consequently, they tend not to last long in London gardens. A green, washable dye can be extracted from their purple sepals, which was used at one time to colour eggs at Easter. This, apparently, is where the name Pasque flower originated, although Gerard disagrees, saying he named it after the time it flowers. It was also used in the past to cure headaches in women and was thought to be particularly effective if the woman was blonde and blue-eyed.

25-Apr April’s Garden Marvels: Beyond the Blossom Section Image