Spring has certainly progressed this last few days with some warm 16c sunshine. You can almost see the plants (and weeds) growing. Although I do not have a macro lens I thought I would share with you some “up close” images of the flowers making their presence know.
The spring standby, Primrose (Primula vulgaris). Not really a plant that is planted as it is quite happy to plant itself. April 19th is traditionally Primrose Day, marking the death of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli on April 19th, 1881 when Queen Victoria sent primroses to his funeral.
The radiant yellow flowers of dwarf Narcissus Tête á Tête give a big splash of colour to any bed. One drawback is that the leaves take time to disappear so I plant them towards the back of my borders where the leaves can die back out of sight.
Mahonia media Charity looking splendid. Mahonia, or Oregon grape are highly prized not just for the beautiful glossy foliage, but because they flower through the winter months.
Ipheion uniflorum White Star is a small herbaceous perennial growing from a bulb and producing flat, shiny, green, hairless, grasslike leaves up to 30 cm (12 in) long. The stem grows up to 20 cm (8 in) tall and bears a solitary showy flower in spring. Not such a common spring flower but easy to grow in a sunny position. Here they underplant some roses.
The first tulip flower of the season. Variety unknown! However, the tulips are coming up all over the garden so we are expecting an excellent display later on.
Anemone Blanda Atrocoeruleais a very free flowering Anemone, which quickly forms large clumps and multiplies year after year. Plant under trees for a woodland effect, with a carpet of violet-blue flowers appearing every spring. The blue is stunning.
and Anemone Blanda White Splendour tends to flower a little later but is just as useful in the spring border.
Prunus Kojo-no-mai is always early to flower
and looks great for no effort.
Ribes sanguineum White Icicle has also started flowering.
This Aubretia, in a warm spot has burst into flower.
Lastly the view over the garden fence where the lambs are continuing to grow.
The first lawn mowing of the season took place this week and there has been much time spent removing self set alliums.
| Gardening Hours | ||
| This week | Total since June 19th | Average per week |
| 20 | 609 | 16 |
Glebe House Garden 
It’s so fun to see pretty flower faces again, isn’t it? Good idea to plant the dwarf narcissus in back; I would never think to do so since they are small. We’ve had three freezing nights this past week (one to -5 C) and so the spring garden is looking very sad at the moment:^(
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Hi Marian, that’s cold! I guess some plants were very upset. It continues quite warm here and will be cutting the grass again soon!
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Spring flowers are so charming and you have a lovely selection. You are lucky to enjoy such a bucolic borrowed view beyond your garden gate.
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Hi Kate, yes you cannot grow such a view and thanks for your comemnt
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Such lovely signs of spring. I adore those wood anemone and have pledged to add some to my woodlands garden once I manage to free it of the bamboo and ivy. Thank you for the inspiration. I am also glad to see another fan of the Mahonia, they are sort of getting a bad rap here in the US, but I adore them, and so do the bees. Thank you for sharing your wonderful garden with us.
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Thanks, if you look at my last blog on aconites you will see how I grow them.
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How do you watermark your photos?
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I use photo shop. It can be done under ‘Process multiple files’ under the file tab
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Just gorgeous, so beautiful to see everything springing to life, baby lambs included. 🙂
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Many thanks. the lambs are an extra but we are very happy to have them in the field behind us
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And when you think that this only the beginning…
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You are quite right. In four weeks we will be ablaze with tulips
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A wonderful start to the Spring display….bring on the sunshine…we need more.
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thanks Sue. As you say more sunshine would be good.
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What a welcome sight all these spring flowers are. I have R. White Icicle too, I find it much prettier than the pink ones. Isn’ t your Mahonia the beautifully fragrant M.japonica? M.Charity has longer, more upright flowers and blooms November and December.
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Many thanks. The R. White Icicle is fully out now and looking great. I have always thought it was M.Charity and have looked at photos on the internet. Actually I can find photos which would suggest it could be either! Not much help really but it works fine either way. Actually I have introduced a new mahonia last year, Mahonia Eurybracteata ‘sweet winter’. This could be a real star but it is not very common in England and hard to find.
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