My Gardening View #16

There are definite signs of the garden awakening in my Gardening View this month. It’s a time of year when it’s worth walking around every day as the borders are changing rapidly.

Hellebores are one of my favourite late winter flowers and I have lots – singles, doubles and everything from deep purple-black to pure white.

They’re beginning to flower now, often surprising me as I’ve forgotten exactly what I’ve planted and where!

I spent a while at the weekend carefully removing dead tree leaves – I tend to leave them on borders as habitat for wildlife – to reveal the buds.

Crocus are another winter favourite and there are shoots all over the garden while the first blooms are adding a touch of spring to my gardening view. I planted a lot last autumn in a border that can be seen from the house and their noses are just appearing. With a bit of luck they will spread to make a good display.

Early narcissi were another autumn addition and the buds are showing. Not long now.

The mild weather has meant this year’s winter pansies have done their thing for weeks. So often I find they don’t really flower over winter. There are also signs of crocus in the pot as well.

Also going strong are the polyanthus in an old half barrel. I bought them back in the autumn of 2020 when it was difficult to source plants and these were all I could find at the local nursery, hence the rather clashing colour scheme.

I’ve done nothing to them and they’ve just kept going. There are crocus just showing and they should be followed by daffodils and tulips, again planted a while ago. It may not be the most colour co-ordinated scheme but it’s great for brightening a grey day.

As for the primroses, they thought it was spring weeks ago. These have spread all over the borders – and into the grass. Such tough things despite their delicate appearance.

A less welcome addition to the lawn was this. The mole is adding piles of soil daily. My lawn has never been of bowling green standard but even so this isn’t welcome.

What did cheer me up this week was the sweet peas germinating and discovering more flowers on the winter iris. I had one bloom weeks ago and thought that was all there was going to be, as I couldn’t see any more buds last week.

Then this happened! Overnight lots more flowers appeared.

Such a welcome sight and a great plant as it shrugs off bad weather and needs no attention from me. Perfect.

Is spring showing in your garden yet? Do let me know in the comments.

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