Much needed sunshine. GBBD February 2019.

After our blip of snow and ice a couple of weeks ago, it is so wonderful at the moment to have the sun shining each day and temperatures about 5 or 6 degrees warmer. Wandering around the garden yesterday, without a coat,  to take my photos was a pleasure. The birds were singing, the sky was blue and there were lots of flowers to enjoy. Come with me and see what I found.

Starting by the back door, Iris reticulata are flowering in the baby bath that was used for me when I was tiny!

This little Hellebore by the front drive really is tiny, a fraction of the size of the rest in the garden. It makes up for its lack of size by the number of flowers it produces.

This one has pink on the back of the sepals and cream on the front.

Primroses are starting to flower, in a couple of weeks they will be flowering everywhere.

This camellia bush in the corner of the back garden started flowering in November and is still covered with flowers.

One of my very special hellebores by the camellia.

Into the woodland where the narcissus are now joining in with the snowdrops, this is Narcissus pseudonarcissus which is seeding around gently. The seedlings are now old enough to flower so soon I hope to have a drift.

Leucojum aestivum starting to flower, their stalks will elongate and produce more flowers for quite some time. Purple in the background is Crocus tommasinianus.

Crocus tommasinianus are seeding around too and they too are old enough for the seedlings to now be flowering. Each year there are more and more, without any input from me, that’s the sort of gardening that I like.

I planted a few corms in the back lawn and the first one is now flowering, how many years will I have to wait for a drift to form?

Cyclamen coum spreading nicely on the rockery under some bushes.

Leucojum vernum on the rockery, these haven’t increased the way their summer relatives do, maybe I should move them.

Polyanthus on the rockery, they never seem to be out of flower, no matter what the weather throws at them.

We are now at the back door again where the chaenomeles is still flowering it’s head off. It stopped flowering for a few days after we had our snow and ice, but soon recovered and is well into its stride once more.

You might be thinking that something is missing……my snowdrops. I’ll be doing a post soon about the work that has been going on in the woodland, snowdrops included. For now though I’ll finish with a few general views of the tapestry that greets me each day when I go for a wander.

Quite a bit of work has been done in the woodland over the past couple of weeks by Neil, my gardener, and myself. Plants are ordered and should be delivered today, other plants can be moved from different parts of the garden and others need splitting, it’s all go at the moment, but will be quite a while before everything is done.

Thanks must go to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this meme each month, do pay her a visit to see what is flowering around the world today.

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28 Responses to Much needed sunshine. GBBD February 2019.

  1. Beautiful!
    Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!

  2. Lisa says:

    I love how your bulbs have spread so. Mine haven’t been in long enough to do much yet.
    Very pretty.

  3. Denise says:

    I very much enjoyed my wander round the garden with you Pauline. I love all the hellebores but that little one is very sweet. Hope your new plants for the woodland arrived safely. I must say, it wants to make me do the same!

    • Pauline says:

      Glad you could come Denise! My plants safely arrived late this afternoon, so I will be able to get them sorted and placed out tomorrow. I will have lots more plants to dig up from elsewhere in the garden and then there are so many snowdrops to be split once they start dying back!

  4. Christina says:

    Lovely to see so many flowers in your winter garden Pauline. Do you find that the Iris reticulata return each year?

    • Pauline says:

      Thank you Christina. So far all my Iris reticulata, except one lot which I planted in the woodland, come back each year and have done for over 10 yrs. The ones in the tin baby bath and the alpine scree are on very gritty soil made by me, the complete opposite to our improved clay soil. Even planting the iris on a steep slope in the woodland, the drainage obviously wasn’t good enough and after 2 yrs they rotted away.

  5. Arun Goyal says:

    How wonderful shots of Hellebores and crocus …I have tried crocus first time in my garden ,hope it gives some blooms.
    Have a great week ahead.

  6. Alison says:

    It’s inspiring the way your early spring bulbs have naturalized into drifts. You have some wonderful flowers to show, and your warmer weather gives me hope that we too will soon be out of this winter wonderland we find ourselves stuck in. Happy GBBD!

    • Pauline says:

      It’s wonderful the way nature works if only we give it a chance Alison. I hope your arctic weather soon leaves you and that your temperatures get back to normal for this time of year.

  7. rusty duck says:

    Hasn’t the sunshine been glorious! I am quite stiff this evening having been working outside the last couple of days.
    You have some lovely hellebores and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve been up to in the woodland!

    • Pauline says:

      It certainly has Jessica, almost too good to be true! I has been wonderful to be able to work in the garden without a coat this last week, I think it is going to continue next week too.
      At the moment I’m wandering round the garden seeing where the foxgloves and primroses have seeded, the next job will be digging those up for the woodland.

  8. You have lots of blooms for February Pauline and your Hellebores and bulbs are lovely. It’s nice seeing so many signs of spring. Happy Bloom Day!

    • Pauline says:

      Thank you Lee, I’m really enjoying all our lovely little flowers. The weather really is springlike here at the moment, most unusual for February, which I always consider to be our worst month of winter.

  9. The drift of snowdrops and crocuses are beautiful! I love the hellebore flowers you have! I planted some iris reticulata two years ago and every year the foliage comes up, but no flowers. Not sure if I got some duds or what.

    • Pauline says:

      Thank you Shelly, I think the crocus make the snowdrops look very special, love them both together. What a shame your iris reticulata haven’t flowered yet, maybe you got bulbs that weren’t quite floering size, if so give them another year, I hope they flower soon for you.

  10. Peter says:

    Thank goodness for the sun and warmer weather. Your hellebores and other blooms are gorgeous harbingers of spring. We’re so lucky to live in climates that allow us to have such delightful winter blooms.

    • Pauline says:

      Hopefully you will get rid of your snow soon Pater and all your lovely flowers will be back on track. We are so lucky to have such a mild climate that encourages us to have flowers all winter long.

  11. Noelle says:

    Its a sure thing that the garden has a life of its own when plants are starting to multiply and spread themselves. The better weather has been lovely I agree.

    • Pauline says:

      It’s wonderful when the plants increase all by themselves Noelle, with a big space to fill it makes life a lot easier. Today has been a bit miserable, very grey and misty but we are told that next week should be better.

  12. Chloris says:

    These early flowers are such a delight and they are enjoying the sunshine as much as we are. On a sunny day the little Tommies are a wonderful sight, I don’t mind how much they spread. Your woodland garden must really come into its own and give you enormous pleasure in the coming weeks.

    • Pauline says:

      My little woodland (a copse really!) is my favourite place to be for the first 6 months of the year Chloris. I make sure I have a daily wander to see what has popped up overnight, there is usually something new to admire. My Tommies are spreading nicely and I have now planted some corms in the back lawn, they are now starting to flower so hopefully in a few years, with seeding, I will have another drift.

  13. Sue C. says:

    Lovely Hellebores Pauline. All the flowers are looking great – so lovely to see some sun and mild too. Lets hope we aren’t going to get a late blast from the east.

    • Pauline says:

      Thanks Sue, more and more are opening each day, they certainly get me out no matter what the weather is. I too hope we don’t get a blast from the east this year, last year was enough!

  14. Cathy says:

    This is such an exciting time of year, isn’t it, with something new to exclaim about every day. I am intrigued by the tiny hellebore – does it have a name?

    • Pauline says:

      A wonderful time of year Cathy. The little hellebore probably had a name way back when it was bought, but that was before I was writing a blog! It is probably small just because the soil isn’t very good in that spot!

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