The Promise of Spring

The arrival of spring is heralded by a burst of flower and scent from a wide range of spring-flowering shrubs and trees. Gordon Link, from The Gobbett Nursery in Shropshire, who are specialists in a wide range of shrubs and small trees, selects his favourites. - 07 March 2025

I just love this time of year, with the days getting longer and all my favourite flowering trees and shrubs showing the promise of so much colour.

These are my top dozen or so shrubs/trees I wouldn't be without for early spring colour. Top of the list must be Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill', with it's beautifully scented pink flowers, which often start flowering in mid-January here but in a cool winter often go right through to March. Also recommended is Daphne 'Perfume Princess' if you need something a little less tall. This lovely cross between Daphne odora and Daphne bholua reaches up to about a metre tall & certainly lives up to its name.

Daphne 'Perfume Princess'

Another excellent early shrub is Ribes laurifolium 'Amy Doncaster' with its yellow/green flowers. It blooms for weeks from late winter to mid spring and its slightly fragrant flowers are loved by the early bees, plus its evergreen and fairly compact.

Ribes laurifolium 'Amy Doncaster'

Shrubby honeysuckles are often overlooked. I especially like Lonicera standishii 'Bucharest' with creamy white flowers with a pink blush and a nice scent. Flowering a few weeks later is Lonicera elisae; this one is an upright growing shrub up to just over two metres and has a slight fragrance and beautiful bell shaped pendant white flowers. It is  wonderful sight in full flower, and flowering is often followed by red berries.

Lonicera standishii 'Bucharest'

Other lovely scented shrubs I wouldn't be without are Hamamelis (Witch Hazel). Two of the more recent ones in the garden are Hamamelis x intermedia 'Aphrodite' and 'Orange Beauty'; both are orange but 'Aphrodite' is the redder of the two. They are not suitable for thin chalk soil but will do well on reasonably drained clay. Both will eventually make quite large shrubs but can be pruned after flowering.

 

Hamamelis x intermedia 'Aphrodite' (Photo: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, Wiki Commons)

Edgworthia chrysantha 'Grandiflora' (paperbush plant) is a shrub we are beginning to see a lot more of with its quite large slightly fragrant yellow daphne like flowers. I have heard it said that it needs an acid soil but here it thrives in neutral clay. We grow it in full sun but I have read it prefers semi shade and maybe a spot out of the strongest winds.

Edgworthia chrysantha 'Grandiflora' (Photo: Teresa Moss)

Cornus mas 'Variegata' and Cornus officinalis both produce large amounts of bright yellow flowers in February to March. C. officinalis is a fairly vigourous shrub here but my favorite must be Cornus mas 'Variegata', which is slow growing but has the benefit of a large white margin on the leaves. Both are easy to grow and hardy.

Chaenomeles (Japanese quince) are often thought of as quite ordinary plants but I think they are great value in the garden. They are extremely unfussy and will grow almost anywhere, including on a north wall or fence. There are several good deep reds, such as 'Knap Hill Scarlet', 'Crimson and Gold' and the more recently introduced 'Scarlet Storm', all of which are very easy plants to grow. A few of my other favourites here include 'Geisha Girl', which is smothered in semi-double, apricot-pink flowers, and C. speciosa 'Yukigoten', with lovely double white creamy flowers. Also well worth growing is Chaenomeles speciosa 'Moerloosei', with very pretty pink & white, appleblossom-like flowers on a more upright plant.

Chaenomeles speciosa 'Moerloosei'

One of the best groups of flowering trees and shrubs, and one of my favourites, are magnolias.Three of the best for a small gardens are:

Magnolia stellata 'Rosea Massey' (also known as 'Dr. Massey') which is quite a rare variety of M. stellata and pink buds opening to almost double white flowers at a height of about three metres in ten years.

Magnolia x loebneri 'Wildcat' is a lovely double variety, white with a pink tinge and probably one of the best plant introductions of recent years.

Magnolia 'Genie' is compact and upright to about four metres, and produces masses of deep maroon, tulip-shaped, slightly scented flowers for several weeks. There's no waiting for years for it to flower as even the small plants produce numerous flowers, making it a real gem which is suitable for small gardens.

Next is another fantastic group of plants, the viburnums. Several varieties of these early shrubs have the most fragrant flowers and are not fussy, making them suitable for planting in any reasonable soil. 

Viburnum carlesii 'Aurora' andV. carlesii 'Diana' both have the most gorgeous scented flowers in April / May, with 'Aurora' offering pinky-red flower buds opening to shell pink flowers and 'Diana' with slightly deeper pink blooms; both are wonderful. Also excellent is Viburnum 'Mohawk', a cross between Viburnum x burkwoodii and V. carlesii which has lovely red buds and the most lovely scent. In our garden its has never got bigger than 1.5 metres in twenty years. If you are looking for something bigger, how about Viburnum x carlcephalum with its sweetly scented white flowers(pink in bud), which grows to about three metres .

Last, but not least, are the shrubby flowering Prunus. We grow several varieties of these on the nursery, including the very popular Prunus incisa 'Kojo-no-Mai' (Fuji cherry). This is a fairly slow-growing plant with unusual zig zag branches and is absolutely covered with pretty pink flowers in the spring. Another feature is the autumn colour, when the leaves turn a gorgeous orangy-red before they fall. It will eventually grow to only 1.7 metres. 

Prunus incisa 'Kojo-no-Mai'

Starting to flower a couple of week later is Prunus triloba 'Rosemund', a shrubby upright-growing flowering almond with the most beautiful double pink flowers, again with attractive autumn foliage. It does benefit from a good prune after flowering.

Prunus triloba 'Rosemund'

Finally, another fantastic variety is Prunus nipponica, which is a large shrub or small tree growing to about three metres and in spring is smothered in fairly large single white flowers, fading to a soft pink, and again followed by good autumn colour.

Gordon and Christine Link own The Gobbet Nursery, based near Kidderminster in Worcestershire. They specialise in shrubs, especially Cornus and Syringa, and in Dierama and Pacific Coast Irises.

Website: www.thegobbettnursery.co.uk