This series was intended as a regular monthly post! If I manage to whizz through the year to date then November and December might be reported in a timely manner! I have also decided to add a few weather details for each month so this becomes more of a phenological record; see end of post for this information. When I get time, I will update the earlier posts for January, February and March.
April 1st in the Garden. The flowering cherries, daffodils, tulips and primulas add colour and important nectar sources for bees and other pollinating insects. The small Stella cherry tree (left of the flowering cherry) is also in bloom promising sweet cherries in summer.
By April 20th, the cherry tree blossom is past its peak and it is apple blossom time. The Rev W Wilks apple tree (front left) is biennial and this is its fruiting year. It produces a heavy crop of cookers/eaters, which cook to a pale yellow froth with a delicate aromatic flavour, on a small compact tree. In front of the flowering cherry, the crab apple tree is just starting to flower and the red acer begins to leaf up.
A week later (27th April) and our miniature Golden Delicious (next to the Rev W Wilks) is now in full flower along with the crab apple. The Golden Delicious tree is the oldest and smallest fruit tree in the garden. We bought it in 2003 or 2004 specifically for a wassail party; its stunted growth is at least partly down to spending quite a few years in a pot before a place could be found in the ground. The red acer is leafing up nicely. In the background, beyond the green shed, is our red crab apple tree in full bloom. The daffodils have finished but the tulips continue to give excellent value.
Weather data are from my Davis Vantage Pro 2 Plus weather station. Sunshine hours are estimated using monthly total solar radiation values.
Here is the April 2021 weather summary for a Hereford (UK) town garden. Equivalent weather values for April 2020 (last year) are in red for comparison.
In comparison to 2020, this April (2021) was a cold, dry month with a significant number of Air Frost Days. Overall a difficult month for gardeners lacking both warmth and rain.
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