Spring gives way to budding stars

We often forget that some of the new shoots that appear at this time of year are just as beautiful as the flowers that eventually replace them.

The colour can be so fresh and unblemished that it is unrecognisable from the mature shoot it will become.

Spiraea 'gold flame' is an example - the little buds are beautiful, with the centres darker than the edges.

Very quickly they expand, and leaves grow, and from the middle appear the little flowers that we all recognise. Paeonies are will be flourishing in the next month.

The buds are full of expectation, so tender, and it seems impossible that they can escape damage as they come out, with gales and rain all around.

All the summer growth is in there, the flower, the very beautiful leaves, and even the seeds are enclosed in that one bud, all ready to open up when the weather is right for the amazing transformation that is about to happen.

Acers are the same, the flowers are in the bud that is about to open.

There is so much going on at this moment that not many people even notice that they have appeared, and gone as the leaves grow bigger, and conceal the buds that turn into little helicopters by autumn, to twist around in the wind to drop to make another tree.

Ferns are fascinating as they grow after the winter hibernation. They unfurl from the dead-looking clump that was the fern last year, to quickly become another group of ferns.

If somebody treads on them at this stage they will be damaged, but usually survive enough to make another generation.

It is this stage that is so vulnerable for the fruit crops, such as apples or pears. If there is an early frost that just catches the buds as they come out there will be no crop in the autumn.

Fruit growers are always worried at this time of year and they do all sorts of things to avoid the frost scorching the plants.

Fires can be lit down the rows of fruit trees to keep the frost at bay, or curtains of material thrown over the trees, but usually the fruit grower just prays.

So much depends upon the weather at this stage of the year.

A bad frost at this time can do untold damage for fruit growers, and means there will be no crop to harvest in the autumn.

Most of the flowers that we wait for so anxiously will survive to delight us, but no wonder that we are keen for the damage that can come with a frost is over.

By Pat Edwards