I don’t know about you but I feel like Spring has been a long time coming, despite the welcome sight of snowdrops. February has been sometimes really cold, often very wet, occasionally quite warm, and then the cycle starts all over again. I cannot fathom how plants and wildlife figure out what to do when!
New colour
And yet, quite literally within the last week, my daffodil, crocus, iris, windflower, and tête-à-tête bulbs are pushing their flowers up through the grass. As I look out my window I see little pops of yellow, purple, blue, and white among the green.
 |
 |
 |
Walking around today, assessing the damage from Storm Doris, I note the green shoots of what will be a mix of red, pink, white, yellow, and green tulips poking out from beds and pots too.
Bulb planting
I cast my mind ruefully back to last October and November, and the 1,000 or so Spring and Summer bulbs that I planted everywhere. (Note to self: be sensible this year, remember how many osteopath appointments your back needed after planting them all last Autumn).
But I can look forward to swathes of blues and mauves with bluebells, camassia and chionodoxia by Easter. And allium drumsticks of purple, white, pink, yellow, and blue, together with magenta plumes of gladiolus byzantinus (a favourite of Alan Titchmarsh), and deep blue triteleia in May.
Seed sowing
Flora is looking forward to this weekend when we’ll be sowing our tomato, cucumber and sweet pea seeds. One of my favourite flowers with the most gorgeous, heady, out of this world fragrance, I first grew sweet peas four years ago and now they’re an annual staple. So easy to raise and blooms you just can’t buy in the shops.
Garden wildlife
I’m delighted to see my almost-tame garden robin who keeps me company as I walk. When he first appeared last summer I didn’t even realise he was a robin as he was brown all over. He only developed his lovely orangey-red breast towards the beginning of Autumn. I have high hopes that one day he might even feed from my hand.
Going to tidy up the debris around our pond, I see a lot of activity in the water. Fearing some small creature has fallen in, I lean over and promptly get splashed in the face by a very indignant Mrs Frog. And there, floating proudly among the water plants, is the most tangible proof that Spring has finally arrived: three enormous piles of frogspawn.
 |
 |
What do you think? Do you feel like Spring is on the way, or has maybe even arrived?
Please do share your thoughts in the comments section below, thank you!
Leave a Reply