A magician most certainly walks our land at this time of year and weaves their magic with marvellous splendour, transforming the landscape from one filled with monotone architectural plant forms to one bursting with new life and colour – and that colour is predominantly green! Shockingly bright, fresh, new, acid lime sweeps the countryside but cautiously bit by bit as though some divine painter is completing a paint-by-numbers picture. April is when most of our native shrubs and trees finally stop dithering, they cannot hold their anticipation any longer and just go for it! Leaf burst, GO!!!
This phenomenon is most clearly visible to those of us that commute along roads each day, with the story of spring unfurling before you amongst the hedgerows. Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna is a brave knight of old, one of the very first shrubs to spring into leaf alongside the Willow Salix species. Other species are far more steadfast and wise, only committing themselves when they are absolutely sure that it is just the right time to put out their tender new leaves and it may be mid-May before they do so. There is an old countryman's saying that goes: "Oak before Ash in for a splash, Ash before Oak in for a soak". So keep your eyes open and see if you can predict a drier or wetter spring and impress your friends – I'm sure many of you are hoping for slightly less rain than last year!
