While half of the country is covered with snow, the other half has floods this week! You can guess which half I’m in, with the grass soaking wet, patio flooded once more and part of the garden and woodland under water! Just as well my plants can cope and I’ve been able to photograph them thanks to my wellies! More flowers are opening in the conservatory and the same in the woodland, so each day is one of discovery.
I still get a hit of hyacinth perfume each day when I come in to the conservatory and see what else has opened up overnight. I am so pleased with my bulbs this year, I’ll be able to see where to plant them in the garden as by now all their relations are up and showing where they all are, so it will be easy to plant these bulbs in between when flowering is over for this year.
The pot of Crocus “Orange Monarch” opened right out when the sun shone for a few minutes!
But I think my favourite this year is Narcissus bulbocodium Arctic Bells. I’ve read that they are not very hardy so maybe this is one pot of bulbs that won’t be planted outside when flowering is over.
Hellebores are now all starting to flower, they look nice amongst all the snowdrops.
One week, nothing to see, the next week, ground cover from Cardamine, followed by the flowers a week later. This will all disappear from the woodland by the end of June. In the meantime the Orange Tip butterfly larva will enjoy munching the leaves!
Determined to survive! This little group of wild snowdrops have put themselves between the bricks of the wall holding back the rockery, there isn’t any soil there, how they are staying alive, I don’t know, but they seem to be happy there!
More wild snowdrops increasing happily on the rockery, they will need splitting soon.
Those are my six for this week, hard to choose which six to show as I am taking so many photos of what is flowering at the moment. I think I’ll have to do a long post mid week to show the woodland with all the snowdrops and the rest of the winter flowers that I’m enjoying at the moment.
Thanks go again to Jim at Garden Ruminations for organising, I’m sure there are lots of other gardens showing their winter flowers, just waiting for you to visit.
What a beautiful display in your conservatory. I am very impressed by your valiant snowdrop, where there is a will there is a way!
Thanks Gill, it makes a lovely splash of colour looking from the sitting room.The little snowdrop is certainly determined, I wonder how long it will last there, or will it force the bricks apart!?
It’s great to see so many flowers in your garden, Pauline – I love the snowdrops! Your table display is so inspiring. It’s such a good idea to be able to display them like that and organise your plant groupings for next year. I hope you get some dry weather soon – we’ve had everything thrown at us this week and we still have heavy rain but at least the winds have dropped.
Monty Don has a lot to answer for Catherine, but most will be planted out after flowering. No actual rain so far today thank goodness, but very grey with a cold wind.
You’re right, the ‘Arctic Bells’ are really very pretty and the mix with the hyacinths in the foreground is really nice.
The set of flowers that you presented to us in your conservatory is impressive because you have so many at the moment!
So glad you like my colour combinations Fred! Just think, if they had been planted outside they would have been battered by all our rain and gales, much better where they are!
Do I gather that most of these bulbs are 2023 purchases that then go in the garden after doing the pot display for their first year? I’ve tried to keep Crocus and Narcissus going in pots and mostly get very little flower after the first year.
Yes Jim, they were bought last autumn and because I can never remember where all my other bulbs are outside at planting time, its better to put them in pots. By the time their flowering is over, their relatives outside are up and almost flowering so I can then see where to put them. Part of my rockery is a so called alpine scree, made with very gritty soil, the species tulips and crocus will be planted there, although I believe the yellow Narcissus bulbocodium like damp soil, yes, I have plenty of that waiting for them!
I do like the Narcissus, very pretty.
Thank you Rosie, this is the first time I have grown this variety and I’m very pleased with them.
A lovely selection. Arctic Bells is really pretty.
Thanks Graeme, I’m liking Arctic Bells very much, glad I bought them!
Don’t you just love plants that find just the right place they like, somewhere we wouldn’t or couldn’t have planted them. Those little snowdrops in the crevice are just such plucky plants.
I was so surprised to see them Noelle, I suppose the seed must have blown into a crack and they have been developing there for the last few years, just hope they don’t bring the wall down!
Hard to choose a favourite this week, but I think the crocuses just have the edge as they’re such a vibrant splash of colour.
The crocus certainly are bright Helen, they will certainly show up next year when I plant them on the scree, which is the only part of the garden which has good drainage!
I like the cardamine. I bought some at a native plant sale a couple of years ago.
It forms a good ground cover for a few months. We have Orange Tip butterflies in the garden so when I found that this was the larval food, I had to buy it to encourage the butterflies to stay and breed here, seems to have worked!
I really like your idea to have the bulbs in pots for their first year. When I try to plant in the Autumn I end up digging up more bulbs than I plant even though I take photos! Very pretty colour on that hellebore Pauline.
I was doing the same as you Denise, chopping bulbs in half when going to plant more, so it seemed to make sense to have them in pots and then plant them when I could see the others growing outside, I’m glad it works! I like that hellebore with its anemone centre, I think they are my favourite sort.
Your indoor bulb display is beautiful and unscathed by the awful weather. I grow Crocuses and Iris reticulate in terracotta pans outside but they’ve done badly this year – too wet and too many little slugs and snails. The Cardamine is very delicate looking
Thank you for your lovely comment. I do have more narcissus and tulips outside in black pots, but they aren’t showing any flowers yet and I don’t think they will make a display somehow! I have an early Iris reticulata Pauline which is outside in the ground, it flowers in January, but the frosts put paid to all the flowers this year, also the slugs and snails got to them too!
What a lovely display. I do like Artic bells!xxx
Thanks Dina, I think I like Arctic Bells best too!x