My Garden In Early Spring

Crocus Tommasinianus

Spring is the time of year when the garden comes back to life before your eyes. The days start off dark and cold, but within a week or so the clocks change and the early flowers start blooming and you will find buds on nearly everything in the garden. It’s a true season of hope, new starts and looking to the future - I find it hard not to be excited about being in the garden more and more from this point on. First to arrive in my garden are the crocus, I never planted them and they dot up all over the lawn and into some of the borders - a nice reminder that whilst a well manicured garden is nice, Mother Nature always has her own plans.

Tarda tulip

Next to appear are the early tulips I plant in the Autumn, and the daffodils. This year I took a closer look around the garden and discovered we have six different types of beautiful daffodils brightening the borders! But they aren’t the only plants to turn the garden yellow during this season, we have three Forsythia bushes that bloom into feathery yellow quills really brightening the gloomiest of days.

Forsythia

After all the yellow the garden starts turning pink with the glorious explosion of the camellia tree which has been adorned with buds since the end of last year. Each flower lives up to its name ‘Pink Perfection’ as its symmetry and colour is just stunning. They make a mess of the ground underneath as they fall, but I think they are worth it for such stunning blooms. I feel very lucky to have inherited this large tree that existed and had been trained into a tree shape well before we moved in.

Alongside the daffodils we also have a few ‘Pink Pearl’ hyacinth plants. We didn’t plant these either, and didn’t notice them the first year after we did a lot of the garden work so I think we must have disturbed the bulbs and they didn’t flower then. But now they pop up in a few places to bring more colour to the borders as they awaken during this season.

Camellia Japonica ‘Pink Perfection’

Hyacinthus orientalis 'Pink Pearl'

I’m also lucky enough to have a few other perennials that have self seeded around the garden including these delicate yellow and purple Primulas (common primroses) that I found close to the ground under some other plants.

And then, of course, there are the shoots and buds that I’ve started spotting on each venture into the garden these past few weeks.

Peonies have shot up out of nowhere, and the hydrangea is sprouting new leaves since it’s severe chop in February.

Our plum tree, blueberry bush and fig tree are all showing exciting signs of new life too.

This spring has shown me, once again, the importance of colour and perhaps where I’ve always concentrated on growing vegetables and a few fruits, I need to give a little more attention to cultivating some more colour in the flower borders. I’ve already got my eye on some summer flowering bulbs I can plant soon…watch this space!

Next to bloom in my garden, I think, will be the yellow Azaleas and some more tulips I planted in a container near the house. Keep an eye on my Instagram stories where I will share photos as they emerge.

What’s soon to bloom in your garden?