Don't miss the flowers that bloom in the spring

I love having a garden. I love seeing the plants in it grow and change each season and year. I love the shapes of their leaves and the beauty of their flowers. I'd love to say I have the first idea what I'm doing when it comes to gardening. But I absolutely don't! I'm not bad at the functional stuff, weeding, pruning, that sort of thing, but ideally under direction otherwise the results can be, well, let's just say a bit hit and miss.

So forgive me that I can't say anything technical about the astonishing plant parade that is the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park at this time of year, other than I know the ones putting on the show are azaleas  and rhododendron, and that breath-taking doesn't even begin to cover the way they look. 

Every year at this time, I go to the plantation to revel in the jaw-dropping array of colours, the wild exuberance of the bushes and trees dripping in exquisite flowers of every hue and the almost ethereal beauty of each of the millions of individual flower heads. 

I'll stop whittering on and let the pictures do the talking. But if there's somewhere, anywhere near you that has cultivations of these magnificent plants, go there right now, whilst they're in bloom and at their most sensationally beautiful.

Check out www.greatbritishgardens to find the best sites around the UK and do, please, post pictures of what you find. Of course, you may have them growing in your own garden (lucky you) in which case post pics of those!