I went out yesterday to take photos for today’s post for GBBD, thank goodness I did as we had a hard frost last night and flowers are not looking too happy this morning. I could only go round half the garden. Anywhere that meant I had to go on the grass ( except the back lawn over to the woodland) was out of bounds as it is so boggy, even though it is frozen,I might disappear, never to be seen again!.
Starting by the back door, the Chaenomeles is still flowering and has been for months now. Not quite so many flowers, but still plenty of buds.
Hellebores in the front by the drive. These aren’t looking at all happy with the frost overnight.
Snowdrops and Primroses by the driveway.
Snowdrops and Cornus.
Moving round to the back garden, snowdrops and Primula.
Hellebore.
Winter flowering heather.
Euphorbia mellifera still flowering.
Flowerbed in front of the woodland with snowdrops, hellebores, narcissus, cyclamen, pulmonaria and a plant pot, how did that get there?
Pulmonaria in the ditch.
Cyclamen coum in the ditch.
General view of the woodland.
The sun might have peeped through, but the wind was icy, Crocus tommasinianus flowers are staying tightly shut.
Scilla siberica starting to flower.
Snowdrop hill at the end of the woodland with snowdrops, hellebores, iris reticulata and crocus.
General view of woodland, looking the opposite way.
Camellia which has been flowering since December.
Narcissus Tete a Tete in the Rhododendron bed.
Wild snowdrops in the Rhododendron bed.
I didn’t dare go any further, I was sinking in to the grass too far as it was, goodness knows what is happening in the other half of the garden, maybe one day I will find out. At least it wasn’t raining yesterday, so I was able to get out and take a few photos, this is now the second day for ages that we haven’t had rain!
Many thanks must go to Carol at May Dreams Garden for hosting this monthly meme for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, please pay her a visit and see what is flowering in other parts of the world today.
It is lovely to see the early spring flowers, even on a winter’s day like today! It does feel strange, though, that so much has been out for so long this winter. I always love to see the hellebores, even if they don’t like the frost. I’ve had to move some of my hellebores with mixed results, so I’m thinking of buying some more for next year to boost them. I’m having a good look at other people’s at the moment!
Seeing spring flowers makes us think that winter is nearly at an end, even though it is so cold outside today. New hellebores are so tempting , I’ve bought a few new ones this year by mail order and am just waiting for them to arrive. I have a couple that need moving, so hopefully they will transfer ok and not face a set back.
It could be even colder tonight by the sound of it. And then back to rain on Wednesday, just in case you might be missing it.
Your garden is looking so colourful in spite of it all. Apart from snowdrops I’m really struggling with bulbs. I wish I knew why.
Yes, tonight sounds as though it is going to be really cold, maybe I ought to wrap up the greenhouse plants!
All the colour makes me feel as though spring is on its way, it can’t be long now. Lots of bulbs like good drainage, but I’m assuming your bulbs are on your slope, so that shouldn’t be a problem or maybe they need a really cold spell to kick start them!
Beautiful, colorful blooms!
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!
Lea
Thanks Lea, and I hope you enjoy GBBD too!
Hi Pauline,
Wow! You certainly are able to participate in GBBD with everything you have blooming. I never thought much about how different your climate is to ours until I started blogging.
How wonderful to go out in February and see all those beautiful blossoms!
We live in the warm SW of the country Sally, all thanks to the Gulf Stream which comes across the Atlantic from the Caribbean and keeps the west side a lot warmer than the east. Gardening hardly ever stops, we rarely have snow and the flowers keep coming!
It would be nice of the Gulf Stream to hug the New England coast on the way across the Atlantic! It can’t be that far out of the way…..sigh….
The only problem Sally, is that it brings so much rain with it, then dumps it on us!
I am impressed Pauline by the number and variety of flowers you have so early in the year. I love the hellebores and think they are looking good considering you’ve had frost. The scilla really is a beautiful shade of blue! I hope the rain stops soon and is followed shortly thereafter by spring. I look forward then to pictures from the other half of your garden!
More frost overnight Denise and it looks as though we will have a sunny day, more rain tomorrow though! The Scillas are showing earlier than usual, but they are a really fantastic blue, I think blue flowers are very special.
I don’t think there is much flowering in the other half of the garden at the moment, I have planted most of the early flowers where I can get at them in the winter to photograph them.
Your snowdrops are delightful in such numbers and your Tete a Tetes are far ahead of mine which are just now pushing foliage out of the ground. Sorry to hear about your extremely wet weather. Despite the moisture and now a freeze, your blooms look grand!
The flowers were photographed before the freeze Peter, we had another one last night and they’re not looking too happy at the moment. Snowdrops are increasing nicely, they get better year on year without any effort from me, but I think a few clumps could do with splitting as soon as the weather warms up properly.
Snowdrop time in English Gardens look so different from ours in Estonia. Usually there is nothing there except those white blooms in the middle of constant brownness (all plants and grass turn brown usually after long winter under thick snow cover). And it happens in one month time from this point! But what a sight to wait for!
Snowdrops are certainly worth waiting for Tistou, it must be wonderful to see them all flowering at once. We have them blooming over 3 months with early, mid and late varieties, usually the early ones are finished before the late ones start flowering.
I love your drifts of early flowering bulbs, so cheering to see so much colour from them after such a grey winter. This morning was too chilly at -2 for me to be out early enough to catch the frost, l tried but beat a hasty retreat. Your euphorbia mellifera looks like a wonderful specimen, do you grow it in a particularly sheltered spot?
Thanks Kate, all the different colours make me think that spring can’t be far away!
The Euphorbia mellifera seeded itself into that spot, the parent plant died, but we always get a few seedlings growing some distance away. I noticed a tiny seedling the other day growing in the gravel in the back garden, if you would like it, just send me your name and address and I’ll put it in the post for you. I think the one we have now is in a sheltered spot, sheltered from the wind, but not the frost, I’m amazed at where it has put itself!
Our plants are having to cope with a fair amount of water this winter and it just goes to show that some of them are real fighters. You have a terrific amount in bloom right how Pauline and as usual all look wonderful in their chosen habitat.
Plants have to be so adaptable in our climate Angie, it really is amazing how some of them survive. The woodland has been keeping me interested for a few months now, next will be the bog garden, that area should be very happy with all the rain we have had!
I’m glad you braved the muck for a stroll around… and I’m even happier you made it back! Nice to see so many blooms braving the weather and all the snowdrops look promising indeed. What a shame so much of their season has been rained out.
They will be very happy to dry out I’m sure!
I think all the plants will be glad to dry out Frank, they have had far too much water this winter. Snowdrops and narcissus can cope with damp soil but some of the other bulbs might not survive, I’ll just have to wait and see. More colour comes to the woodland each day making a nice contrast to the dull grey days!
You have a good collection of flowers there Pauline considering you could not venture onto a lot of your garden because of the wet. I hope you enjoyed the sun today – the crocus’ opened up here for the first time. More rain on its way!!
The sun yesterday was wonderful Sue, such a welcome change, back to rain today though!! Crocus are so pretty when they open, beautiful stars of colour.
Every time I see your Euphorbia mellifera I know I should be growing it; it is on my next seed order but I’ve delayed sending it because I have too many seedlings growing and many more to sow. Hope the garden dries out for you soon Pauline, it is so frustrating when you can’t get out.
We have just had two dry days Christina, but today we are back to the usual rain!
We always seem to get a few seedlings from our Euphorbia mellifera, would you like me to save one for you, I will probably find one when I eventually get out there weeding?
I make regular inspections of my two Chaenomeles knowing that yours is always in flower before Christmas. There are a few buds on one of them now, but even that is much earlier than usual here. I have noticed a few flashes of colour (well, white!) on the scilla I have added to the special snowdrop border but your blue ones are looking tempting so I may add some of those to an appropriate border for next year! Sorry evrything is so wet for you 🙁
We inherited the Chaenomeles by the back door Cathy, so I don’t know its name. We have another which I planted, Apple Blossom, but that one only flowers in the spring. I was amazed to see the Scilla showing colour so early, I’m sure it’s usually March before I see them.
After 2 dry, sunny days, we are back to rain once more, surely it must end soon!
I’m so glad you weren’t lost to the bog. What an ignominious end that would have been! You seem to be well ahead with blooms just now. We had some starting and then an artic blast did away with them and now we must begin again.
Thanks Marian, it would have been a sad end wouldn’t it! I think we need a week without rain before everywhere will be firm once more, we just hope that hapens soon!
Plants are amazing, with the changes in weather that they cope with. I hope your icy blast didn’t do any permanent damage and that you will soon have your flowers once more.
I love your woodland view of snowdrops and cyclamen
Thanks Jason, the woodland is a lovely place to be at the moment.
Your garden seems to be enjoying all the rain. I love the abundance of spring blooms you already have, and the color of the Scilla siberica is marvelous! The colors in your woodland are delightful and are an inspiration to me.
At last Deb, we have had a couple of dry days! The crocus have now opened, whereas they were staying tightly shut while it was raining, they make the woodland so pretty when open adding colour to the snowdrops.