FLOWERS THAT MADE ME SMILE

Over the Winter months it can be hard to find six new and interesting garden topics to write about, but that has all changed so quickly.  I've been at home all week, as many of us have had to be.  I've seen the garden change day by day.  This post is about the flowers that have lifted my mood this week and made me smile.

1. Auricula

Don't you just love auriculas?  They look like they have been made from Plasticine and cardboard, which really shouldn't be a good thing, but it is.  I hadn't even noticed this one coming into bud.  I walked into the greenhouse a couple of days ago and there it was, flowers all open as if it had been left there as a surprise gift.  

For those of you who are interested in the details, I bought this from a market stall about four years ago.  It cost a pound or two.  It stays outside in the Summer but in the Winter it comes under cover, which is my interpretation of how an alpine should like to be treated.  I have three more similar plants which are showing no signs of doing any flowering.  I hope they are just waiting to surprise me too.

2. Magnolia Stellata

This was another plant that made me smile this week.  I bought it last Spring, but didn't get it planted until the Autumn, whereupon I promptly stood on it and broke off one of its three branches.  I expected it to take umbrage at this poor treatment, but not a bit of it, for it has flowered for the first time.  

3. Primula

Alongside the drive is a mixed shrubbery and hidden behind the Rhododendrons and Spirea are some primula varying in colour from primrose yellow to a rusty pink.  This, I think, is the prettiest.  I would love to move them to the front of the border where they can be seen, but perhaps they prefer it where they are.  So this hidden gem is another of the plants that made me smile this week.

4. A Host of Golden Daffodils

Many of the daffodils in the garden were here when we arrived, but this group I planted myself.  They are paler and more delicate than many, just like me, which is more to my taste.  One day they looked vaguely in bud, and the next day they had opened.  They certainly seem happy and judging by how crowded they are, must have bulked up a lot since I planted them.

5. The Woodland Walk

Still my favourite area of the garden at the moment, with a scattering of daffodils to catch the eye as I walk through.  The snowdrop foliage is being joined by the brighter green leaves of the bluebells.

6. Sweet Peas

It's my first year growing sweet peas, and I have probably got about two thirds germination, which may be good or poor,  I don't know.  I'm also confused about the two 'odd ones out' among the seedlings.  Most have a recognisably pea like foliage, but there are two nearest the camera which are completely different.  Can anyone suggest what they might be?

That's all from my garden this week, but if you'd like to see more from gardens in the UK and beyond, then please visit The Propagator, who is kind enough to host Six on Saturday.  If you'd like to take part in Six on Saturday yourself, then all the instructions you need are there.