This year we stand a good chance of having a proper full-blown spring because the cold, wintry weather we've recently suffered has held everything back.

When spring does arrive, on a wave of warmth, it will probably be here to stay and there are several dainty woodlanders capable of thriving when grown under deciduous trees and shrubs.

April is a good time to track them down in garden centre or nursery. But you may need to create some dappled shade for shelter too. Most woodlanders flower just before the leafy canopy unfurls above them, before dying down for a summer sleep.

The fragrant, spring-flowering viburnums,V. x burkwoodii and V. x juddii, provide excellent cover.

Early-flowering trees also work well and these two members of the cherry family, Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis' and Prunus serrula, are also both superb at casting light shade.

Woodlanders tend to have flowers in pale, subtle colours set against dappled or intricate foliage and they match the freshness of an April day perfectly.

The wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa) produces nodding, rounded flowers in either soft-white, pale-pink or faded-blue. Robinsoniana' is a robust pale-blue, Vestal', a neat double white, and Westwell Pink' ( found at Westwell near Burford) a pale-pink.

But don't confuse these shy, water-colour beauties with the many-rayed, bright A. blanda, a tuberous plant that prefers some warm sun. The closely-related Hepatica nobilis also produces bright flowers in strong blues, deep pink and white with distinctive three-lobed leaves. These liverworts, as hepaticas are commonly known, do best in well-drained conditions.

There are also some yellow-flowered wood anemones with smaller flowers and these include the single buttercup-yellow Anemone ranunculoides. There's also a double form called A. ranunculoides Flore Pleno' and a fine pale-yellow hybrid between this species and our native wood anemone, called Anemone x lipsiensis Pallida'.

Dicentras, commonly known as bleeding hearts, also do well in shade as long as the soil is rich and friable. Seek out the green ferny leafed forms with small white lockets, often labelled Dicentra eximia Alba' . There are also glaucous-leafed dicentras but these jar horribly against the fresh- green palette of spring. Also avoid Dicentra spectabilis , because this large-locketed dicentra is often completely flattened by the slightest frost.

Add some erythroniums, or Dog's-tooth violets, too. They earn that name because of their long roots which resemble canine teeth. Pagoda' is an excellent variety, combining substantial green leaves (dappled in brown) and pendant pale-yellow bells. There is a white form too, White Beauty', and several pink species. All can be left to form large clumps. You can also use miniature narcissus, muscari (or grape hyacinths) and the green-leafed snowdrop Galanthus woronowii.

By late April and May Silene fimbriata, a white campion with crimped petals, will also appear lighting up the darkest areas of shade, gently creeping over the ground. The acid-yellow bracts of the biennial umbellifer , Smyrnium perfoliatum, willalso light up the darkest corners and these gentle woodlanders can add so much to the April garden. So if you haven't planted any so far, seek some out.