The laburnum is out! Yes, now is the time to visit Bridge End Garden and walk along the laburnum walk in the Wilderness. The longest and, what is believed to be, the oldest laburnum walk is at a National Trust property in North Wales, Bodnant Garden. It is 55m long and was planted by Henry Pochin in 1880 with help from his designer, Edward Milner. Ours is on a smaller scale but it is 25m long and is still a welcome spring experience that is worth a visit!

In the area to the north of Castle Street path, next to Borough Meadow the Garden Team and the Friends have been trying to make more of a Flower Meadow by cutting and raking off the area in late June, with the same again in September. Seeds have been scattered and very slowly new species are beginning to appear. Now daffodils have appeared! The daffodils in the Garden are mostly Narcissus 'Tenby' but as the aim is to give the Flower Meadow its own character, it was decided use a different...

Early last year the first phase of rejuvenating the yew hedge Maze in the Garden was undertaken to reduce the height to 1.65m. The hedges were replanted in 1984 but after 40 years had become overgrown, reducing path widths and becoming very tall. It was becoming impassable to wheelchair users and in places was very overbearing. The purpose of reducing the height last year was to let sunlight into the centre of the individual plants to encourage regrowth. Yew has a remarkable capacity to...