Jellybeans, candyfloss and Barbara Cartland

It's not been bad for a May Day bank holiday. Gusty and cold after a month's worth of rain, but enough sunshine to make it worth seeing some gardens. So I persuaded Dan, Nick and Ian to join me on the Great Garden trail. This grand title makes it sound like a horticultural magical mystery tour; the reality was not so much a trail, as an alternative NGS open day - without the cakes. We picked three south London gardens, two of which were perfectly nice, text book designs, but somehow failed to inspire. Luckily, Ian and I caught Charles Rutherford's back garden just before he shut up shop. This was the one that got my big wow. I don't know what it looks like the rest of the year, but it really packs a big spring punch into a small space. Loved the Barbara Cartland pink tulips. I want those in my garden next year.

So the spring bank holiday is over, a change of government looms like a dark cloud and the weather forecast is for continued icelandic blasts of cold and unseasonal air. I think we should raise a glass to April and commit to memory these past few weeks of near-perfect weather, spring at its most gorgeous, full of hope for a hot summer and anticipation of a new growing season.

London in April was like a trippy sweet shop (cue Beatles pastiche music and psychedelic animations...). Days of clear blue skies (momentarily plane-free); bone-and-soil-warming sunshine; candyfloss pink cherry blossom trees lining suburban streets, jellybean-coloured tulips bobbing through flowerbeds all over town, fizzy lime new leaves unfurling before my eyes, and unmown grass glittering with spangle-like dandelions and sherbert daisies. Yum.