A lady called Alice

The life of the garden runs in an unending circle. It is a pilgrimage with no beginning and no end.

This has always been the way of the natural world with a season for growth and a season for decay, processing like an endless dance. I love these paper-chases through the seasons, especially during April and May. In May you have to avoid what is known as the ‘May Gap’. This is easy to recognise for just when the garden is full of butterflies and bumblebees, and your enthusiasm is interfering with your blood pressure, the flower colour in the garden vanishes. The spring bulbs will have given of their best during this time, and the early shrubs (along with most magnolias) will be a fading memory. However, if you grow rhododendrons and azaleas you’ll still have intoxicating colour and perfume up to mid-June when the summer heavyweight perennials come into the limelight.

Some azaleas and rhododendrons are obviously better than others, but even the lowliest of that list has more attractions than just their mere presence in the garden. This seems to be particularly true of rhododendrons ‘Fragrantissima’ and ‘Lady Alice’ for both are blessed with a truly captivating perfume. If you have followed my suggestions down the years and invested in the perfumed, winter-flowering Dahpne ‘Jacqueline Postil’, then either of these rhododendrons will also please you. Both are all-time favourites and either are worth every trouble to get them to grow and flower well.