Mellow yellow

It is the first weekend in April and at last it feels that spring is here. We seem to have had a long, wet winter this year but at least our reservoirs are full and the trees are hydrated and ready to burst into leaf.

The daffodils in our garden have come into bloom over the past two weeks or so. They are very late, my early ones are usually here in February, but they held on to their tightly closed blooms for much longer than usual. The tall, elegant ones in the front garden, 'February Gold' I think, have formed two good clumps of foliage and flowers. Each stem is topped with a single, long trumpeted bloom encircled by narrow swept-back petals. The smaller 'Tete-a-tetes' dotted about the garden are also doing well. These seem to thrive in sun or shade and are for me the most reliable of the daffodils I have planted. They nestle amongst soft-grey green euphobias, protected by the evergreen stems of these plants, but do just as well clumped up in the rather dry and exposed soil of the temporarily empty herb bed.

Pulmonarias and primulas are still flowering profusely - the primulas have been especially good this year, blooming for weeks in all kinds of weather. They come in so many different colours, some bold and brash, making a statement with their purple and rich red petals, others more delicate in subtle shades of lemon and pale pink. Then there are the crocus and hyacinths filling sunny spots with colour and scent, euphorbias about to open out their lime green blooms and fat buds on the hydrangeas. And golden grasses popping up in unexpected places, brown stemmed clematis sprouting overnight and blossom trees swelling as each day passes.

The list is endless, April really is the best month in the garden. Well, at least until May arrives.

Garden talk

Elizabeth Tite, Publicity Officer for the National Gardens Scheme in Yorkshire will give a talk entitled 'Opening Your Garden for the NGS' on Tuesday April 4. Organised by Askham Bryan College (ABC) Gardening Club the talk will be held in the Conference Hall at Askham Bryan College starting at 7.30pm. Admission is free to ABC Gardening Club members and £5 on the door for non-members.

Open gardens

Sunday, April 2

In aid of British Red Cross

Swinton Gardens, from Ripon take the A6108 to Masham, the gardens are signposted from there. Extensive grounds with woodland walks around lakes. Open 2-5pm. Admission £2.50 adult, accompanied children free.

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Londesborough Cross, Shiptonthorpe, off the A1079 York to Hull road. A former railway goods yard transformed by the owners into a garden with ponds, bog area, large herbaceous borders and woodland garden planted with a collection of ferns and shade loving trilliums and meconopsis. Teas and plants on sale. Also open Wednesday April 5. Open 1-4pm. Admission £3 adult, accompanied children free.

Wednesday, April 5

In aid of the National Gardens Scheme

Hunmanby Grange, Wold Newton, 12.5 miles south east of Scarborough on the road from Burton Fleming to Fordon. Three-acre garden created from an exposed field. Hedges and fences provide protection from the wind for the series of gardens that are planted for year round interest with seasonal highlights. Open 1-5pm. Admission £2.50 adult, accompanied children free.

Gardening TV and radio

Sunday, April 2

9am, Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther, Joe Maiden.

Noon, Radio York, William Jenkyns. The final edition of the gardening programme. It will be repeated on Wednesday at 8pm.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. Chris Beardshaw, Bunny Guinness, Bob Flowerdew and chairman Peter Gibbs are in Berkshire to answer questions from members of the Caversham Horticultural Society. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.25pm.

Tuesday, April 4

8pm, BBC2, Save Lullingstone Castle. The progress of botanist Tom Hart Dyke's plans to build the World Garden of Plants in the grounds of his home.

Friday, April 7

8pm, BBC2, Gardeners' World. Monty starts a new project - a garden in the shade.