RHS Bridgewater: Spring flower count records 100 plants in bloom

The Iberian comfrey (Symphytum ibericum) was one of 100 different plants in bloom at RHS Garden Bridgewater

A spring flower count at the Royal Horticultural Society's newest garden has recorded 100 different types of plants in bloom.

The 154-acre RHS Garden Bridgewater in Salford opened in 2021 and had about 250,000 new plants put into the site.

Three annual surveys will assess what grows well, the results of which will inform horticultural advice and chart the impact of climate change.

The RHS said the findings would "provide a valuable insight".

The £35m garden was billed as Europe's "biggest hands-on horticultural project" when it welcomed its first visitors last May.

The first survey took place at the spring equinox and found 100 species and cultivars in flower, including eight varieties of hellebore, seven types of bergenia and five different camellias.

Curator Marcus Chilton-Jones said the data would also help with protecting early-flowering plants that are vulnerable to late spring frosts.

He added that the results would give "valuable insight for climate change observers in the future".

The RHS team said the findings from their surveys would chart the impacts of climate change

Among the results, the RHS team found a variety of geum, known as Totally Tangerine, had flowered more than a month ahead of its scheduled late spring blooming, a usually summer-flowering hebe was in bloom and the garden's Iberian comfrey, a late spring and summer perennial, was in flower.

Counts will also be carried out around the summer solstice in June and the autumnal equinox in September each year, the charity said.

Numbers of blooms at each seasonal count are expected to rise in the coming years as more areas of the garden are developed and more plants added, the horticultural charity said.

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