Many of the Garden’s camellias, rhododendrons, magnolias and daffodils, which usually blossom much later in the month, are already putting on a flower power show thanks to warmer temperatures and high rainfall over the past nine months.

 

Head gardener Tom Clarke said: “It looks set to be a great, and early, spring at Exbury. The good news is our rare plant collections were already covered in lots of buds as it was so damp last summer and autumn. And with the high rainfall continuing over the winter, along with the lack of really cold weather, it seems we’re going to have a fantastic start to the flowering season as many are already in bloom.”

 

Exbury’s Daffodil Meadow boasts thousands of naturalised flowers leading down to the picturesque Beaulieu River, which are set to burst into colour along with the River of Gold, a lawned walkway fringed with over 100,000 yellow and blue spring bulbs. The Gardens’ are also home to 600 different types of camellia, and over 6,400 cultivars of rhododendron, as well as hundreds of magnolia.

 

When the gates open to the public on 9 March, indoors, an exhibition of lachenalia plants, also known as leopard lilies, and orchids will be on show in the Five Arrows Gallery.  Entrance to the exhibition is included in the gardens’ admission price.

 

2024 marks the 60^th anniversary of the creation of Exbury’s famed Azalea Bowl, a visitor favourite that blossoms in April/May in a kaleidoscope of reds, shocking pinks, purples and whites.    Planted in 1964 by former head gardener Freddie Wynniatt it surrounds a large pond in the Gardens.