Spring 2014

It certainly is Melchi thankyou for the joy.

I second that Mel ! Was that a little blue anemone ? Now why haven't mine appeared yet ! I enjoyed looking at your spring flowers. I just love the spring but it must be terrible for all those people who flooded and are still flooded !

Sounds like your winter has been very similar to ours...just the one storm a couple of weeks before Christmas...small hole in the roof. Nothing serious since then and very mild. Your garden looks beautiful...so pretty with all those sparkling jewel colours. Love this time of year. April and May are my favourite months, but it all starts in March. :)

I admire your positive thinking. This was very nice blog, and those saffrons on the bottom photo are really like from the fairy tale.

Thanks Kath - "joy" is the right word!

I have a few drifts of anemones, Rose. I've planted bulbs for about three years. There are only a few out so far, so they might be early.

Thanks Karen. I am in the throes of belated clearing. Despite good intentions in the Autumn, it always seems to get left until Feb/March. I tell myself it's for the wildlife!

Thanks Katarina. I'm glad you enjoyed the blog. I have hundreds of crocuses - they pop up all over the place, in the beds and in the lawn. These are one of the types in the wild patch. They are lovely and sturdy.

Oh don't you just love it! Spring spring spring. and it can only get better. lol. (hopefully)

Of course it will, Barbara! :-)

A blog full of spring - gorgeous!

Thanks, Scottish! It's a wonderful time of year, isn't it?

A lovely blog and its great to see the sunshine again. We have had two days of sun (until 2pm ) on each day and I was able to start on the Autumn left overs, I use the same excuse that it is for the wildlife, too. Its wonderful to feel the heat again. I have a bowl of Romance crocus which are pale cream in bud and open up to buttercup yellow. They were out in the sun yesterday. It is indeed a joy. The birch tree stump looks interesting with its little hat on.

Melchi I adore the blue flower .

Thank you, Scotsgran. We've had sunshine, too. It's lovely, and surprisingly warm on one's back. I love crocuses and plant more each year, They spread surprisingly quickly, although the young, naturalised ones don't last as long. The birch tree stump is a ladybird house that OH bought me last year. Pretty, isn't it?

The blue flower is an anemone blanda, Kath. I have a lot down in the wild patch. There aren't very many out yet - I'm hoping there are more to come. I don't know if they are long-lasting plants or not. The oldest are about 3 years old.

Lucky ladybirds Melchisedec. It is a lovely feature.

:-)

Well Melch you`ve put it in prospective when you say you`ve only had a small hole in the roof and a fence panel down this would have seemed a dissaster any other time but seeing all the flooding and gales that parts of the country have experienced I can see where your coming from. Glad to see all is back in order now and your mum is ok after being rescued.
The spring garden is looking great and heralding of things to come, at last at last.

Lovely to see what inspired such a title Melchi, we too have been so lucky compared to others, its very uplifting to have our spring flowers in bloom......

We've had some strong storms but no damage to the house thank goodness, only a lot of small branches down from the trees. It sure is a joy to see the glorious purple crocuses on a sunny day and to welcome the first anemone. I saw a very small bud on mine the other day
but there are only a few - hoped they would have spread a bit more by now, but lets count our blessings.

Thanks Stroller. I can't imagine what it must be like for those poor people who have lost so much - it will take months or longer to get back to anything resembling "normal".

It certainly is lovely to see the Spring.

Thanks, Lincslass. I am always surprised how the sight of the Spring flowers enthuses me. I'm afraid I'm not much of a winter gardener, but once the garden turns a certain corner, I'm raring to go again.

I'm glad you didn't have any real damage either, Steragram. I hope your anemones go from strength to strength. I am just waiting to see if I get any more - last year I had two big patches where I'd planted bulbs.

Thanks, Homebird. I love the hellebores - they are producing quite a lot of babies now, as well. The crocuses always give a lovely show.

Yes - only 3 more weeks! I am really looking forward to that extra hour.

Poor Mum - although I think my sisters and I were more worried than she was. The site she is on borders farmland, and the wind is strong there at the best of times. There are a few trees around as well. Still, it's all in the past now. She only lives a couple of miles away, but driving down there was quite hairy!

What a lovely, positive blog Susanne . . . it's a great feeling when we have so much to look forward to.

I got back from a short trip to Florence yesterday, with a friend, and it was so great to have a quiet potter in the garden today with OH in the Spring sunshine, and enjoy all the primroses and Hellebores, and see buds on the fruit trees. "No place like home"!

Florence - how lovely!

Isn't it wonderful to see and feel sunshine again? It transforms everything. Just a few short weeks ago I was lamenting the general untidiness in the garden, but now I'm on to it and the difference is so rewarding. I shall be off to the GC soon with a shopping list!

love all the wild parts of your garden and the anemone blanda is such a pretty blue. I planted a few corms in the November of last year but only a few have come up, I'm hoping they will naturalise over the years have you any tips for growing them?

Thanks, Teds!

When I wrote this blog, there were only a few of the anemones showing, and I did wonder how they would do this year. However, I am happy to report that I now have three big swathes of them. They are so lovely, aren't they?

I planted a bag of about thirty each autumn for the last three years. They are in a typical woodland area - plenty of light in the spring, then less as the leaves come out on the overhanging sycamores (which are just over the bottom wall). I haven't given them any attention (apart from admiring them!), and because it's my wild area, that part of the garden is virtually untouched. They are in the part where I removed the grass and replaced it with bark chips. Now, several years later, there are lots of crocuses and snowdrops which I have planted, and moss, but nothing much overshadowing them. I don't know how they would grow in a mixed border. Perhaps yours are just a bit later than mine.

Thank you for the tips! I will plant up more each year down in the dell, and put them under the oak trees in the bark chippings I have down to suppress the weeds. Hopefully I will get a good display in a few years time, fingers crossed!

Hope so!