Spring colour
I felt a little pang of nostalgia putting the photos for this post together. This time last year the front garden was just a dirt patch. There were no flowers or shrubs and I was in the early stages of planning out a cottage garden in my head. We spent the whole Winter looking at our dirt patch, so one sunny weekend we went to the garden centre and spent £40 on plants.
I remember getting home and realising we'd underestimated how many plants we would need to fill the space! A year on, things are flourishing and many of the plants starting to flower now are those we bought that weekend. Let me show you what's happening.The Lithodora will be covered in bright blue flowers in a couple of weeks time. The bottom half of the plant is looking brown and scraggy but the top is full of new growth.
The erysimum is coming back to life. It's pushing up new buds and popping out petals. This is one of my favourite plants in the front because its filled out quickly and has a long flowering period.
When I look at this photo I hear the Pac-Man chopping, imagining she is feasting on aphids as she walks.
I think these waxy green shoots are bluebells. I planted them randomly in the front thinking I'd remember where I put them but I don't.
In the battle of crocosmia vs slugs, crocosmia won! I love this shade of green - I haven't Photoshopped that colours, the shoots are actually that bright.
I bought a Snakes Head Fritillary last year but it only flowered for two weeks so I assumed it died because it wasn't happy where it was planted. Then when I was putting bluebells in I found tiny white bulbs where it use to be - I realised they were Fritillary and quickly buried them. The tiny bud below is the beginnings of a new Fritillary.
I need your help this week! Does anyone know what the plant below is? My vague searches for things like 'zig zag leaf' have failed (unsurprisingly!). I bought it at a village plant sale but it didn't have a plant marker. In early Summer it sends up a long wispy stem with small pink flowers. Update It's called 'London Pride'. Thanks for identifying Mrs Fox!
The daffodils are shining bright. I've been tempted a few to put in the house but I don't know if I can bring myself to do it because there will be fewer outdoors.
A Pulmonaria photo for the third week running! This is one of the first things to flower and I love the almost tie-dyed effect on the petals.
When mid-March arrives it's time to sow the wildflower seeds. We had a bee mix leftover in the seed tin and I scattered some cornflower seeds (saved from last year). I scatter them in most of the gaps because they make the garden look fuller and add lots of colour. They are annuals which is good because the permanent plants can still grow in to that space as they die off.
We had a really warm, sunny day at the start of the week so I put the leggy seedlings outdoors to soak up some sunshine. Chilli plant on the left, nasturtiums and sage in the middle and marigolds on the far right. So big already. When plants get to this stage, I'm always amazing they've grown from a tiny tiny seed.
I love Spring. You can feel everything stretching up and doing a big Bagpuss yawn as it wakes up from a 3 month sleep.
