Celebrating spring shrubs

Sometimes underrated but always hard-working

Shrubs have been sitting quietly all winter, waiting for their time to shine - and for many of them, that means bursting into life in spring to bring us some joy when we most need it.

Yes, spring bulbs like daffodils, tulips and hyacinths are perfect for that burst of bright colour, but having a few hard-working shrubs in our gardens means we’ll have long-lasting spring colour that returns year after year, often with very little effort required. They may even do overtime as winter structure and evergreen interest.

A flowering forsythia can be one of the first signs of the winter garden waking up each year, with its bright yellow blooms like a beacon, even on dull days. They can reach a good size, up to three metres or more, which means they make a real impact early in the season with their mass of yellow flowers. When it’s finished flowering you can extend a forsythia’s usefulness in your garden by letting a clematis scramble through the branches, which will then bloom later in the spri…