TAKING CARE OF YOUR GARDEN IN APRIL

• Plant herbaceous perennials now for summer and autumn colour.
• Spray weeds and grass around trees and hedging before it gets out of hand.
• All trees and shrubs will respond to a feed now.
• Start thinking summer colour now.
• Continue planting potatoes and plant out vegetables.
• Have your protective fleece to hand just in case we get late frost.
• Take some time to enjoy the first flowers of spring.

Magnificent Cherries                                                                                                                         

I saw a report recently on what tourists found good about Ireland and it will come as no surprise that many are impressed with the beauty of our countryside and of course we take it for granted most of the time.  At the moment as we immerge from the winter the flowering cherries with their supplementary of colour and shape are heralding the arrival of summer.  You may not have room to plant all the varieties but one of the following will suit all gardens large or small.  Excuse the latin names but if you don’t use the proper name when you are shopping you may not get the variety you want.  Let’s start with the smallest one Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-No-Mai’ (the Fuji cherry), this flowers for weeks on end and can successfully be grown on a patio in a pot.  The ever popular weeping form Prunus ‘Kiku-Shidare-Zakura’ covered in double pink flowers in spring, perfect in any garden large or small.  Prunus ‘Amanogawa’, the flagpole cherry grows like a pillar, may grow 10-15 feet high but no more than 3 feet wide, well worth finding a home for.  One of my favourites has to be the flat-topped cherry known as Prunus ‘Shogetsu’ with its double white flowers on outstretched branches is a sight to behold. The ‘Blushing Bride’ Prunus ‘Shirofugen’ with its white tinted pink blooms is almost mystical.  Prunus ‘Royal Burgundy’ a recent introduction with double pink flowers has the added beauty of copper foliage for the summer.  Last but not least there’s a cherry for winter beauty which it only reveals when it has dropped its leaves to show off its peeling mahogany bark known as Prunus Serrula Nearly all the cherries have lovely autumn colour, Prunus Sargentii is unparalled... There’s a cherry for all seasons, plant at least one