Head Gardener's Blog: What is Your Colour of Spring?
Forsythia Against Blue Sky
I just cannot believe this is my fourth Spring here at Riverhill. Time passes very quickly when one is having fun.... Since the last time I wrote, a lot has happened. Here are a few highlights.
In November 2023, I undertook a trip to Nepal on behalf of the Riverhill team to see the plants and culture of the Himalayas (full report of my trip can be found from Hardy Plant Society's website). Another excitement came when we applied and were accepted as a new RHS partner garden in 2024. I am very proud of the team to have achieved this.
Our now famous Rock Garden's fern collection is growing strongly and we are holding our second annual Fern Festival (June 28th and 29th 2025) this year, where we promote this beautiful and a little overlooked very special group of plants.
A new landscape was designed and installed in the entrance area of the gardens with wider paths and a couple of new benches. We then created a wild flower meadow in these beds as a short-term solution before a more permanent planting can be implemented. If you visited Riverhill in summer 2024, you could not have missed these very colourful beds. It was a huge success and we decided to repeat the same display again this year.
As usual, we have been very busy over the last winter doing much structural work. One of the biggest jobs was to work through the Yeti woods (chestnut coppice wood), clearing dead trees and branches. We created many 'dead hedges' using the wood and branches which will be very beneficial for wildlife in the area and help to increase biodiversity and resilience.
Yellow Viola and Tete a Tete Daffodils
It was such a joy to welcome back our visitors to the gardens when we opened this year in mid-March. I do love spring and my colour of spring is definitely YELLOW. It's such an uplifting colour and so perfect after the dark, cold (and often very wet) winter. Very early on, it starts with winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) and early daffodils, then moving onto one of my favorite spring yellow, marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) in our pond in the Rock Garden.This is a beautiful British native suitable for wet areas. By the time I see Forthysia in flower, especially against the blue sky, I know the cold and wet winter is gone and the growing season full of life has now officially started. Another spring yellow I really like, and this could be controversial for some, is lesser celandine (Ficaria verna). The flower closes its petals before rainfall, so in folklore it is said to predict the weather (which could be very helpful for gardeners!). When the flower is fully open the petals look reflective and shiny, almost electric. They can, however, spread quickly and are very difficult to get rid of. They leaf up, flower and disappear very quickly, not interfering with the summer display so I normally welcome them but do be careful in introducing if this bright yellow would not suit your early spring colour scheme.
I have even tried some yellow in our container display this spring, such as yellow violas and 'Tete a tete' daffodils. Primroses, though paler than other yellows I mentioned here, took on an amazing display this year. I thoroughly enjoyed my spring yellows against many blue skies (we have been so lucky with the weather!).
Images: L: Lesser Celandine R: Marsh Marigold in the Rock Garden.
Now the gardens are moving onto other colours. Trees are leafing up in refreshing pale greens, reds and yellows and many rhododendrons and azaleas in a whole array of colours. The cool colour and lovely scent of bluebells, the pinks and purples of peonies and alliums.... so much more to look forward to.
Overwintered Kale in Spring.