April at Furzey Gardens

20 March 2024

Longer daylight hours and warm spring sunshine, inbetween rain showers, mean that the gardens are really beginning to wake up from their winter slumber.

April is an exciting month at Furzey Gardens as the colours on display become more varied and particularly vibrant.

As you enter the gardens, the view across the top lawn hints at the delights which await you on your stroll around the gardens. The gardens are flowering slightly ahead of their usual cycle this year, due to the milder and wet winter weather that we have been experiencing. A number of rhododendron and azalea are already in flower preparing us for the dizzy heights of vibrant colours we can expect later in the month.

Of particular note are the rose pink flowers of our rhododendron racemosum, violet blue thanks to our augustinii rhododendron and blood red blooms of rhododendron thomsonii.

Over the last year we have continued to cut back and clear some older plants too, so you will see plenty of smaller specimens enjoying their moment to shine.

One of the standout blooms in Furzey this month is the taihaku ‘Great White Cherry Blossom Tree.  Also look out for amelanchier lamarckii (sometimes called juneberry) in full bloom and a range of flowering apples, including the malus robusta.

If you want to strike up all of your senses, then you should pay our osmanthus delavayi a visit. They have white, jasmine-like flowers, produce the most incredible smell and are very attractive to butterflies.

Finally, welcoming yellow tones come in the form of our corylopsis collection, forsythia, and the last of our daffodil display contrasting brilliantly with the purple and pinks on display from our azaleas and rhododendrons. Don’t miss the delicate tiny flowers of the Azara microphylla which emits a beautiful chocolatey scent which drifts across the gardens on a sunny day.

There are plenty of other wonders to enjoy as you stroll around the gardens this April, pick up a copy of our Spring Plants of Interest at the welcome hut, or in the tea rooms.

The gardens and tea rooms are open seven days a week all the way through to October now, so we hope you will find a convenient day to come and enjoy a relaxing wander around our woodland garden.

Kids can follow our Arty Egg trail and discover 15 artist-decorated eggs. The trail costs £2 per trail, find all 15 to claim your Easter treat from the tea rooms.

Book your tickets here.