So the opening weekend of Glyndebourne Festival is finally here and with it the knowledge that a glorious summer on and off the stage is right around the corner.

But late spring lingers on for now and one combination of plants that sums up this time of year like no other is cowslips growing among the bluebells. There seems to be a bumper crop this year, not just in the garden but in the lanes and verges around Glyndebourne. They often seed themselves into areas of the garden where we don’t want them and rather than hoe them down we sometimes transplant them to places we want to encourage them to colonise.

I find a good way to move plants like this is to use a bulb planter. Place the bulb planter over the young plant, push down, twist from side to side, pull up and you have a nice plug plant ready to transplant. Use the same process to replace the hole with a plug from where you have replanted the cowslip.

I use this method early in the year when we find bee orchids that have made their homes in the lawns. This is an increasingly rare wild orchid so transplanting wayward seedlings is well worth the effort. Only do this with within your own garden, of course.

My favourite plant changes weekly, sometimes daily, but at the moment I love the Ceanothus which are flowering in the Glyndebourne gardens. The intense blue flowers and sweet scent are a real treat. It’s a versatile plant and can take the form of shrubs, small trees and climbers and there are about 50 species of the plant, all of them from north America.

Its popular name is California Lilac: a reference to how common it is around California. One species, Ceanothus integerrimus, has been used by Native Americans to ease childbirth, although I don’t think I could have convinced my wife of its powers of pain relief.

  • Glyndebourne’s gardens are open to ticket holders for Glyndebourne Festival (May 17 to August 24) only. Tickets from £10 to £250 via Glyndebourne.com or 01273 815000