Spring is slowly crawling in

We had no proper winter this year, so nature is early, very early I might say. I do however fear big frosts in March.

 

For the Siberian Iris, there's no worry. It can stand all frosts despite its fragile appearance.

 

I also have three primulas in bloom.

 

This is a wallflower that I bought last season while it was in bloom. After a few months' break, it started bloomin again - and I thought it was not a perennial.

I love its sweet fragrance!

Rosa Pierre de Ronsard is one of the roses with pretty red buds. But all of my roses have branch buds growing, so it's them I'm worried about in case of late hard frosts.
Fingers crossed!

 I love the Japanese quince and its bright pink blooms. They are in bud right now, but still very pretty. As a bonus, they are in the neighbour's garden, but a few branches entered my garden and I'm not complaining about it :)

 

 

 

Speaking of buds, here's this one. It has a curious habit, sending its flower buds straight from the ground, like a worm poking its nose out.

It's called Eranthis Cilicica.

 

My white helleborus opened a couple of blooms. Blemished as they are, they're still a joy to my eyes after all these colourless months.

 This other mauve helleborus is just getting there - a big promise with all those buds just waiting to open up.

And there's this other helleborus - the dark one (I don't know its exact name).

 

The snow drops were the first to show up. I have two kinds so far, the blooms seem pretty much identical, but the leaves are completely different.

 

These are what I know to be the classical ones

 

And these are the ones with the weird leaves.

 

Last year I had some double ones in another bed, but there's no sign of them.

 



Although it's the second year, I'm still surprisd by the fact the my rosemary blooms in early spring.

And I'll end the tour of my February garden with a pretty view made by succulents and a baby columbine.

A Promise of Spring, a Reminder of Winter

January has passed and so has February. With the beginning of March, there’s been sunshine and warm weather, and sitting outside without a jacket on, and new buds showing up.

And then the bad-bad winter decided to show us her frosty show was not over, so we had big frosts, which made me put the winter protection back on the plants that needed it the most. Mid-March, and I was shovelling snow instead of doing proper gardening work.

However, the worst is now over. With some victims (buds) and some survivors (plants).
Here are some pictures with small joys in my winter garden from February and early March.

The snow drops were a nice surprise. I planted some, but those I planted last autumn have yet to bloom. These were a couple of bunches that were planted by some previous tenants.

 And here is a small bouquet I made for indoors. The first this year all from my garden.

 

 Hellebores were among the survivors. Well, they are winter flowers and they have proven it standing strong against the snow and frosts.

Rosa Munstead Wood put out these very pretty red buds, which I am not sure survived the last frosts. They seem to be still alive, but not so much in a good shape.
We'll see soon enough.

One of my favourite roses from David Austin is Brother Cadfael - it is a nice pink, it has that charming old rose fragrance and it is a good bloomer. It also seemed to be pretty disease resistent and to put out a lot a growth in its first summer with me. So, when I pruned it before the winter, there were a couple of long canes that I cut in order to give the bush a nice shape and I decided to just put one of them in the ground, directly in the garden and simply cover it with a plastic bottle.
In all honesty, I did not expect it to survive, especially considering that I planted it at the end of November, but here's a peak through the bottle where you can see its nice buds.
Doesn't it look like a survivor, too?

This is not a plant, but, together with its twin sister, it has certainly added some winter interest to my garden and I do hope my 'clients' are gonna thank me in summer.

And here are some pictures of indoor beauties.

Hope to be back soon