What’s looking good at RHS Hyde Hall?

Planted back in 2021, our 120 beautiful flowering cherry trees are beginning to put on a glorious show of blossom each spring. Sitting gracefully on Clover Hill, Millennium Avenue and in the Queen Mother’s Garden, the trees were donated by the Sakura Cherry Tree Project for the Japan-UK Season of Culture. Three cherries with different flowering times – Prunus ‘Beni-yutaka’, P. ‘Tai-haku’ and P. × yedoensis ‘Somei-Yoshino’ – provide a seamless sequence of pink and white blossom from late March into April.

Stroll beneath magnificent rhododendrons, magnolias and camellias blooming in the Woodland Garden – these acid-loving plants thrive in the acidified soil and sheltered microclimate created here by RHS Hyde Hall’s original owners, the Robinsons. Look out for Rhododendron sanguineum, a rare species from China, smothered with bright red flowers, and our beautiful R. arboreum x campanulatum, a real gem that is completely covered in white flower trusses flushed with pink.

The spring delights continue in the Robinson Garden this month, starting with the delicate white blooms of Amelanchier bursting open above carpets of cream and yellow daffodils and sumptuous nodding hellebores. By the end of the month, the Judas trees, Cercis siliquastrum, are covered in clusters of bright pink blossoms that add a splash of intense colour to the garden. Fern fronds unfurl to reveal gorgeous green foliage and soft drifts of Camassia punctuate the scene with their dreamy spires of blue star-like flowers.

The woodland floor of Birch Grove is transformed into a tapestry of fresh foliage and flowers in April, as bird song fills the air. In the naturalistic planting scheme, the uplifting yellow flowers of Tulipa sylvestris vie for attention among swathes of pheasant’s eye daffodil Narcissus poeticus. Our most asked about plant in April is Smyrnium perfoliatum, a euphorbia-like member of the carrot family that self-seeds into any gaps. Its zingy lime-green flowers are a wonderful backdrop for the white trunks of Betula ‘Fascination’, one of six birch species from Asia and North America found here.

Daffodils bring a burst of colour that announces the arrival of spring at RHS Hyde Hall. One of the best places to enjoy them is around the Lower Pond, where large groups of cyclamineus daffodils including Narcissus ‘Rapture’ and ‘Peeping Tom’, known for their dainty flowers with swept back petals and pronounced trumpets, set off the brightly coloured stems of dogwoods, willows and birches. Don’t miss drifts of dancing daffodils carpeting the grassy bank of the Queen Mother’s Garden too.

As April progresses, the Cottage Garden feels fresh and full of promise. Soft orange, pink, apricot and purple tulips, including ‘Dordogne’, ‘Apricot Beauty’ and ‘Purple Prince’ form a harmonious mosaic of colour. Beautiful pink blossom adorns the apple trees Malus domestica ‘Red Gravenstein’ and Malus ‘Adirondack’, as well as Deutzia × elegantissima ‘Fasciculata’. Large containers create a stunning focal point, with bold red tulip cultivars such as ‘Barbados’, ‘Kingsblood’ and ‘Red Impression’ that dramatically draw your eye.

RHS Hyde Hall has a wonderful collection of Malus (crab apples) and April is the time to appreciate their gorgeous spring blossom. Later this month, pink flower buds burst open into scented pink or white flowers. Look out for striking Malus ‘Evereste’ laden with large white blooms in the Hilltop Garden and the rosy red-pink blooms of Malus × moerlandsii ‘Profusion’ on Clover Hill. Crab apples are great trees for any garden, providing food for pollinators in spring and for birds in autumn.

For a flavour of more exotic spring blooms, head to the Australia & New Zealand Garden. At this time of year, Grevillea are adorned with spidery blooms in shades of yellow, orange, red and pink, but it’s the beautiful fragrant blossom of Acacia that really steals the show. Seek out the sunny yellow pom-pom flowers of Acacia dealbata, A. rudiba and A. pravissima to lift your spirits, with further specimens to discover in the Dry Garden too.

Having stood through winter on its exposed rocky slope, the Dry Garden looks amazingly lush in spring. Mounds of Euphorbia rigida and E. characias provide a zingy hit of lime green against their blueish glaucous foliage, as reliable Helleborus argutifolius blooms through to late spring. Singing against the gravel and rocks, perennial wallflowers Erysimum ‘Orange Zwerg’ and ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ add pops of colour, while Rhodanthemum hosmariense (Moroccan daisy) is covered in white blooms with sunshine yellow centres.