Chapter 8 - Spring: March to May

We don't usually clear the garden at the end of the year, but leave the seed heads for the birds, which means that we look forward to some good days from February onwards when we can begin the  clear-up operation.  It's always a thrill when the winter begins to fade away, the green shoots push their way through the brown earth and we can begin to look forward to the wonders of the year ahead. 

The first flowers to show their faces are usually primroses. 



Primula vulgaris

Since we began the garden, we have been inundated with them.  They covered the original lawn each spring and are still rampant in our neighbour's orchard.  We don't have quite so many now as we have dug them up to sell at the annual plant sale of the Yorkshire Group of the Cottage Garden Society, but they must love the limestone subsoil and so continue to self-propagate and give us a wonderful show each year.  The ubiquitous Spanish Bluebell is also impossible to root out.  I would prefer to have the English variety, which does bloom in the nearby woods, but we seem to be stuck with the larger, stronger Spanish invader.

Hellebores are also wonderful self-seeders so that we never know where they will come up next.  We now have several varieties, mainly the orientalis, but also the H. niger, the smelly H. foetidus and a pretty pink Helleborus Hillier 'Hybrid's Double' which is quite fragile in comparson with the others. 

Helleborus 'Orientalis'

Helleborus 'Niger'

        

Helleborus Hillier 'Hybrid's Double' 

The windflower, Anemone nemerosa 'Vestal' or A. blanda 'White Splendour' are also delightful accompaniments to the miniature tulips and daffodils which are available now and can be planted together in pots to make a lovely display.  Ipheion 'Album' also makes a good companion to these as do the many Narcissus varieties, such as 'Avelanche', 'Bridal Crown' or 'Tete a tete'.


Anemone - Windflower



Narcissus triandrus 'Thalia'

The larger varieties of daffodil and tulips aren't forgotten either and we have had exceptional value from T. fosteriano 'Purissima', a fabulous white, and T.triumph 'Negrita', an equally good purple, over a number of years.  However, T. double late 'Angelique', which was wonderful the first year, has diminished in quality and quantity since they were first enjoyed so much.

Tulipa fosteriano 'Purisimma'

Tulipa triumph 'Negrita'

 Rockery plants such as Doronicum 'Goldcut', with its lovely bright daisy-like flowers add a touch of sunlight on dull days, as do the aptly-named Lithodora diffusa 'Heavenly Blue' and L. 'Star'.  The Saxifrage family also come to life during this period and the ornamental strawberry, Fragaria 'Ruby', will also be showing its pretty pink flowers and may even produce some fruit later on.  The pasque flower, Pulsatilla 'Alba' and its blue equivalent also find themselves on our rockery and are beautiful reminders of the Easter story, with feathery seed heads left behind when the flowers are over.

Doronicum 'Goldcut'

Lithodora diffusa 'Heavenly Blue'



Fragaria 'Ruby'



Pulsatilla - Pasque Flower

Fritillaria meleagris is another woodland plant which grows well in our garden and has increased in number each year; both the white and the chequered varieties enhance the water feature, along with miniature irises and blue and yellow crocuses which the blackbirds seem to annihilate.

Fritillaria meleagris

Poppies are great, lifting their large colourful flowers to the sky at the last minute.  We had hundreds of them come up unexpectedly in the early years and assume the seeds had been in my mother's old compost heap.  Needless to say, we had to go round pulling lots of them up, but we have since planted more specialised varieties, such as 'Ladybird' and 'Curlilocks', as well as the smaller Papaver nudicaule 'Pacino', the iceland poppy, which is so pretty and continues well into the summer and autumn. 

Papaver 'Ladybird'

Papaver 'Orientalis'



Papaver 'Curlilocks'

We also have a well-travelled dark red peony which came to us via an aunt in London and my mother about 50 years ago.  It then moved to Derbyshire with us and finally came back to Sprotborough ten years ago.  Our daughter also took a a piece to the Isle of Man, where it continues to thrive, so it obviously travels well.

Peony

The Persicaria bistorta 'Superba' can be found at the back of the top border, but I particularly like the smaller, low-spreading P. vaccinifolium with its bright rose-pink spikes which flower right through the year and are even looking good today in their autumn colours as we approach the end of November. 

We did have the even smaller variety, P. 'Needham's Form', which has very small round pink flowers, but I'm afraid we lost it some time ago and it doesn't seem to be widely available.

I also have a small collection of Primula auriculas for which Mick built a 'theatre', but I'm sorry to say they haven't done as well as I would have liked and I have lost quite a number.  Perhaps the position isn't quite right.

Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens'

Ornamental grasses also begin to show the promise which will come to full fruition later in the year.  The tall ones mix so well with later-flowering perennials, but the low-growing black grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens', with its tiny blue flowers and black seeds is good value, multiplying whilst still being controllable.   It is planted in the small plot at the front of the cottage which faces south and so gets lots of sun, but the floods of June 2007 did it no harm at all.

A very unusual plant which I have only ever seen in one other garden is the Haquetia epipachtis, which has grown slowly into a small mound. 

Haquetia epipactis

I think it might be considered to be one of the few 'green' flowers, though they are relieved by yellow centres.

It would be possible to go on and on, but I will end by just mentioning three very different 'Vs': the lovely little violets, which also grow wild around here, Veronica gentianoides, with its graceful pale blue spikes, and Vinca minor variegata, a bit of a thug  which will take over if it's not kept under control. 

Viola

Veronica gentianoides

The presence of these, along with shrubs and trees, which are now coming into flower or putting on leaf, are an indication that the Spring garden is looking forward to a promising summer ahead.