PotsandPlots

A thin frost on the garage top greeted me on this chily morning. Slim pickings in the garden this week. Everything feels like it’s about to burst into life, but nothing much as changed in the last seven days.

Six on Saturday is curated by Jim at Garden Ruminations, and you can find the participation guidelines here.

1: The exception to this is my forsythia, which is now in full bloom. This used to be under about 5 other trees and bushes and had to fight to be seen, but is now the last man standing. Boring for 11/12 of the year, but right now it’s lovely.

2: The primroses are still looking good. Some lovely colours showing through. I noticed my neighbours have some clumps of deep purple primula, which I think are naturalised. I’m going to see if they’re happy to divide them so I can add to my collection.

3: For the last few years, I’ve grown tulips in pots. The problem with doing that is that they don’t come back year on year (or so the wisdom goes – I’ve never tried). But they do return (mostly) if you plant them in the ground at the end of the summer. I’ve done this in about as many places as possible in the garden, now I just need to see how many are strong enough to come through with some flowers.

4: I love clematis, but I don’t have much space for them (not just because the garden is full of tulips). Instead, I have a several in pots. They have to be kept out of strong direct sunlight in the summer, but after a couple of false starts these pots return year on year.

5: My tête-à-tête are still going strong, but some more of the varieties I planted last autumn are starting to come through. Hopefully, better pictures will be possible next week. (Can you spot the tail end of a rogue crocus that somehow found its way into the pot!)

6. My Brunnera macrophylla “Jack Frost” is just starting out, with its flowers. This always looks great in the early spring.

And finally.

It appeared in last week’s countdown but my miniature cherry is still the pick of the garden.