April

By early April the masses of wild daffodils were beginning to die and were replaced by cowslips in their thousands. Bluebells, blue, white and a few pink ones appeared along with celandines, green alkanet, shepherd’s purse, white stonecrop, cow parsley, garlic mustard, more buttercups including the tall meadow buttercup and a mass of forget-me-nots.  Our bluebells are Spanish hybrids, characterised by their upright stems and bell-shaped flowers with open tips.

Garlic mustard is also known as jack-by-the-hedge, hedge garlic, sauce-alone, jack-in-the-bush, penny hedge and poor man's mustard.

By the mid/end of April, the trees were coming into leaf including the copper beech, far right.

Bluebells

Cow parsley, also lady's lace, wild chervil and keck

Pink bluebells

Garlic mustard - see above for all the other names

White bluebells

Shepherd's purse

Forget-me-not

Lesser celandine

Green alkanet or evergreen bugloss

Cowslip

White stonecrop

Carpet of cowslips

Meadow buttercup

Flower of the white stonecrop

End of April with thousands of cowslips (and a few tulips!)