Shrubs for a vibrant spring

摘要

Among the most valuable of garden plants, spring-flowering shrubs provide some of the year's most spectacular displays. MATTHEW WILSON enthuses about his favourites. THE ONSET OF SPRING is exciting, especially for gardeners. As the cloak of winter gradually lifts, our pulses quicken as shoots swell and burst. Along with the excitement can come a sense of foreboding; will a late frost turn the buds of long-anticipated flowers to mush, or heavy rain damage the seemingly robust but actually rather delicate blossom of fruit trees, before the pollinators have done their work? Despite this potential for inclement weather, spring endures as the season of regeneration and is a time when some of the most beautiful and interesting shrubs come into their own.