At this time of year there is often one special plant in the garden. At the moment it is our Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum).
They can grow as multi-stemmed plants and we received ours as an off-shoot from a friend. In fact, he gave us two and we now have three from one we split ourselves.
These trees can grow up to 10 metres tall and they do very well in our area. I have seen beautiful examples of huge old trees.
The flowers arrive before the leaves and are a special pink colour.
The flowers are the same shape as sweet peas or the flowers of green pea plants.
The flowers attract all the pollinators but especially the Carpenter bees that have the muscle and force to pierce the flower head to reach the nectar.
The nectar in the flower must be really good as the honey bees go to a lot of trouble to push open the lower petals of the flower.
She really has to keep up the pressure and take her “shoulder” to it before she can get the flower to open.
You can see her licking her tongue here, obviously worth the effort.
Now the trees are starting open their leaves while keeping their flowers. The fresh leaves are shiny and very attractive.
Definitely a star of the April garden!
a french garden 