Not exactly a plant of the month, the latest carpet bedding - in the Victorian Garden below the cafe and the beds in front of the Pavilions - has been beautifully executed and is well worth a visit.

The best place to see these plants at their most spectacular is on Las Canadas del Teide, Tenerife's largest volcano. Snow capped from November to March, Mount Teide is the highest mountain on Spanish territory. It is quite amazing to see the Echium wildpretii in full flower in Sheffield.

This beautiful shrub, a bramble relative, has long arching canes carrying 2-inch pure white flowers with golden stamens, along the entire length.

In April, when there are so many beautiful blossoms in the Gardens, from the magnolias, cherries, rhododendrons and camellias, one can be forgiven for missing this rather odd, but pretty Chilean vine clambering up the north wall of the Pavilions.

C. mas is one of the Cornaceae (dogwood) family). It produces dainty sprays of up to 25 four-petalled flowers in little yellow puffs, all along its leafless twigs.

The winter flowering honeysuckles (Lonicera) are planted throughout the Gardens, and the ones near the Grand Entrance (area D on downloadable map) are flowering well.

This large bushy shrub has responded to the hot summer by flowering very profusely. The fine evergreen foliage with up to 40 leaflets on each 6in pinnate leaf provide a good foil for the bright yellow, pea-like flowers.

Found scrambling up the wall outside the Robert Marnock Garden is the most beautiful winter-flowering clematis with hundreds of flowers and buds ready to flower throughout the winter months.

At the top of the West Lawn, in front of the pavilions, a dense clump of overgrown hollies and shrubs has recently been cleared, resulting in much improved vistas and the dramatic revealing of a fine oak, Quercus x hispanica 'Lucombeana'.

A native of South Africa, in the Cape Province from Olifants River to Cape Town, amaryllis is a flowering bulb found growing on rocky hillsides, in scrub and near rivers.

A highly desirable plant, very hardy and vigorous, it has year round interest: from spring onwards the distinctive leaves are an attractive feature, drooping in glossy pairs, each with 3 long deep veins; from September there is a profusion of fragrant, showy flowers which last until the first frost.

There is no doubt that some of the near tropical weather we have been having recently has been beneficial to some plants in the Gardens. Planted in 2016, this Albizia julibrissin, also known as the silk tree, originating from Iran, east to China, has really flourished.

According to Campbell-Culver in 'The Origin of Plants', when this herbaceous evergreen plant was first brought to Britain in the 1550s, it was known as Spanish Bayonet, reflecting events at that time in its native America (across what are now the southern states).

Following one of the severest winters of recent years, with the arrival of Beast from the East and the Mini-beast, it is almost a miracle that this shrub has even survived, let alone flowered with such abundance.

This upright, mostly evergreen shrub is one of two species in the pea (Leguminosae) family, subfamily Papilionoideae.

One can be forgiven for passing by these small trees, as you exit the Gardens down the path towards Thompson Road, without a glance. Only at this time of year, and particularly on a warm spring day, will you wonder what the beautiful smell in the air is.

As March comes in like a lion, it is hard to believe that in a couple of weeks Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle' should be covered in pendulous racemes of pure white flowers, long lasting and noticeably earlier than the species.

It is most unusual to see these exotic looking plants in flower outside of a glasshouse environment, but the acacias were planted in Sheffield Botanical Gardens in the Spring of 2013 and have since thrived, so much so, that they are covered in bud and flowers to welcome the spring.