SPRING BULBS

Now we are reaching the end of February the snowdrops, crocus and some daffodils are all flowering together. 

I bought these Tete a tete narcissus in Wilko by mistake (shades of Withnail and I?).  They were planted in a trough last year after which I thought I would plant them out in the garden.  Full size daffodils wouldn't be a problem but I was very unsure where to put them because they are miniatures.  I am very pleased with the result, though I don't expect they will time themselves to flower with the snowdrops every year.

Crocus are flowering in the Rose Garden.  For the last two years I've added purple and lavender varieties to the handful of ones that were already here.  I planted some Pickwick this year, but they went in rather late (they were a sale bargain) and I haven't spotted one in flower yet.

Crocus 'Flower Record'

My next Six on Saturday offering is this Pulmonaria.  It seems to be suffering a bit.  It's usually flowering by the end of January, but this year it seems to have nearly died out.  I'm supposing that it may have been affected by the dry weather last year, and I admit a Geranium macrorrhizum did seem to be encroaching on its space.

The snowdrops are doing rather better thankfully.  

      

                   

Unsurprisingly, having visited two gardens in order to look at their collections of special snowdrops, I began to wonder whether something more interesting was growing among those in my garden.  Mr B caught the bug too and called me over to look at some interesting double ones he had spotted.

Double snowdrop with yellow markings, growing in my garden.

Narcissus Pseudonarcissus are starting to open in the orchard.  They open first at the top of the South facing slope, so over the coming week or two many more should join them.  They've beaten 'February Gold' into flower this year, although those are planted in a much shadier spot.

Another reliable early Spring flowerer is Bergenia cordifolia.  It's always interesting to spot its sugar pink flowers, but is it actually pretty?  I'm not sure I can answer that one.

That's it for now but see you next week.  I'm off to spread around 30 bags of mushroom compost I've had delivered to use as a mulch.  It pongs a bit! 

Don't forget all the Six on Saturday posts can be found on Garden Ruminations our new home from home thanks to Jim who is caretaking while the Propagator takes a break.