Val Bourne revels in the way warm sunshine generates a resurgence of her beloved Spring Cottage garden

Spring has officially arrived at Spring Cottage and there’s magic in the air. Bare branches are clothed in flower, hellebores galore hang their heads demurely, primroses beam at the sun and early spring bulbs are finally opening — albeit a little reluctantly. They’re being worshipped by the bees, so there’s a murmur of contentment in the air that even I, with my appalling hearing, can hear and appreciate. I am working at my desk, brain hopefully engaged, but the rest of me is longing to step outside and enjoy the garden’s resurgence. For like many a gardener, I am a pleasure seeker at heart.

Flowers on bare branches have the Harry Potter element of magic for me.

I never lose my admiration and wonder for Prunus ‘Kursar’, which is such a reliable small tree for a garden. It dangles its brown buds downwards in February, possibly showing a chink of pink, and then in March the clusters of buds open and produce perfectly rounded flowers in spring-pink. Close by a grafted Japanese apricot, Prunus mume ‘Beni-chidore’, also flowers, but perhaps a little later, and the slightly smaller flowers, held on dark twiggy branches, are a starker pink. Both were planted seven years ago and should live for another 30 years. And I probably can’t say that about myself.

There’s also plenty of pink fragrant flower on Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ and this is beginning to unfurl its crisply serrated foliage, and I long for new leaf because I’m fed up with dead sticks and last year’s leftover leaves. This is a large, upright shrub which could be accommodated on any border of the garden, or be grown as a specimen. It has the ability to flower in November, the worst gardening month, producing a hyacinth scent like no other. All three are visions of pink that step bravely into the new world of early spring.

Viburnums are good value and many of the deciduous or semi-deciduous spring-flowering forms are scented. V. x burkwoodii has glossy leaves and heads of apple-blossom pink and there are several good forms of this easily grown spring-flowering shrub. Chris Pattison of Pendock, near Malvern, has an excellent range plus many other treasures — but only opens during the week (Monday to Friday 9am-5pm, www.chris-pattison.co.uk/01531 650480). They will do mail order, but this is one nursery you should really visit.

My daphnes have also done well in this consistently cool winter because it has avoided being too savage. Admittedly, Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ has still lost much of its leaf, but the clusters of pale-pink flowers have been scenting the garden for two months or more so this wins my award for the earliest daphne of all. This columnar evergreen is readily available and easy to grow in a sheltered position. Even easier is the spreading D. odora ‘Aureomarginata’ with its green leaves edges in gold and its April clusters of pink flowers. I am also about to plant a white, green-leaved form called ‘Sakiwaka’ newly acquired from Chris Pattison.

Whenever I do a talk, or some such event, there is always someone who asks me about daphne that is losing its leaves and going backwards. Sad to say this is the nature of the beast. Daphnes are capricious creatures and wont to turn up their toes for no reason — often after a glorious spell. Whenever you have one going well, plant another.

Woody trees and plants are vital in the garden, particularly the spring garden, because their branches offer shelter from above and drainage underground courtesy of the roots. However their biggest contribution is scale, for they make the woodland carpet acceptable by their presence, casting light and shade. Without them spring woodlanders look out of place, exposed like a rabbit in the headlights of spring sunshine.