Spring Arrives

Posted By Janet on Mar 1, 2017 |


I love March which brings fresh new foliage and so many more flowering plants to enjoy. Although the weather can be windy and wet with snow, by this month new growth is unstoppable.

In spring, the stars are the bulbs, especially the many varieties of daffodil, early tulips and the wood anemone, Anemone nemerosa or Anemone blanda. The Anemones are low growing with daisy like flowers in white, blue or lilac. They like woodland edge conditions with crumbly moist soil and will gradually spread. They will also flower well in pots for a long time. A pot with Daffodils, early tulips and Anemone blanda will brighten up somewhere you look at daily.

Narcissus

Anemone blanda

Other early flowering plants include Lungwort or Pulmonaria varieties. I love these plants which in ideal conditions (moist, rich crumbly soil, out of full sun) will form a large plant about 60cms in diameter with lovely mottled green and silver foliage. Great for ground cover around taller plants. In spring before the leaves form fully, they send up stems of blue or pink flowers to 25cms tall. Plant with Brunnera varieities, which like similar conditions. Brunnera also have handsome foliage in green, silver or cream and have stems of blue forget me not flowers in early spring. Another welcome early flowerer are primroses or primulas that will have been flowering on and off since December. However, early spring is the best season. These hedgerow plants fill in gaps at the front of the border or grow well in pots.

Pulmonaria

Some shrubs flower early too. Forsythia will come out with bright yellow flowers, Ribes or flowering currants will have pink or cream flowers depending on variety and Pieris shrubs will start to flower with tiny white or sometimes pink waxy bell like flowers.

I usually plant my tomato seeds inside to germinate. Then gradually harden them off before planting out in the garden when all frosts have gone. Although the tomatoes ripen later than when in a greenhouse, I still get lots to eat from September onwards. Green tomatoes even ripen indoors well into November, if left on a warm windowsill!

Make sure your roses are pruned by March. They come into bud early in the year when the weather is mild. Give them a feed with a proprietary rose fertilizer. I also feed all my plants in March with a pelleted fertilizer such as Growmore that gradually releases nutrients.