Where most people would have gone out to visit a garden, or for tea and cake over Easter, at the moment, due to the coronavirus social distancing guidelines, that’s impossible. Here are a few suggestions of things you can do to celebrate instead, using the garden and things you can find within it. And for future inspiration, here’s our guide on gardening while isolation.
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This is one of the traditional ways people have celebrated Easter and the good news is that you doesn’t necessarily need a hill for this to work. Usually the game is played with hard boiled eggs, which also means you can make a nice egg cress sandwich after the race and things won’t get too messy. And traditionally the eggs were decorated, so a chance to get painting too.
Without hill: line up your eggs at the starting line. Then when the race starts, using sticks you roll your egg towards the finish line. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins.
With hill: stand at the top of a hill and roll your egg down. The first to cross the finish line wins. Simple.
We mentioned egg painting briefly in the earlier entry. This option is for eggs that won’t end up to get scratched and smashed after you’ve rolled them down a hill. We’d recommend blowing the egg first, which involves making a small hole in the bottom and a small hole in the top then gently blowing the egg white and egg yolk through the hole in the bottom. Take care though! It’s easy to smash the shells. Once the egg is entirely out, then you can gently clean the shell and decorate it any way you like. And don’t forget to use the eggs for omelette!
See who can make the best Easter bouquet using the most classic Easter flowers: daffodils. Make sure you use as sparingly as possible so there are some left for the bees.
Easter egg hunt in the garden
Find as many sweet treats as you can and nominate one person to be the treasure layer, who plants the treats at secret points throughout the garden. What about a treasure map too? Make it really fun and include some clues.
We can’t physically celebrate with the family, but there are florists still delivering cut flower bouquets which will brighten up anyone’s Easter. We’d recommend finding as local a florist as you can, but Freddie’s Flowers, Common Farm and Bloom and Wild are all excellent options.
Wreaths don’t have to be just for Christmas! Why not decorate the house with all the greens and yellows of spring. Make a lovely floral-inspired Easter bonnet or a hanging display from whatever you can find in the hedgerows and borders.
We all know that nurseries and gardens are struggling. If you’re not sure what to do this Easter, a donation to your favourite garden definitely wouldn’t go amiss. Perennial, RHS, the National Trust and Plantlife are all good options.
Daisy Bowie-Sell is digital editor of Gardens Illustrated. She has previously worked as a journalist for publications including the Daily Telegraph, WhatsOnStage and Time Out London
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