So, the first few days of proper spring as the vernal equinox took place at exactly 21:24 (Greenwich Mean Time) on Monday March 20. The spring weather has yet to appear though as we have had showers and heavy rain all week with the best of the sunshine first thing in the morning. However, I managed a couple of hours in the garden last weekend to do some weeding and plant a couple of new perennials and remove an old Hebe shrub.
(Apologies for the poor quality of some of these photos this week, but they were taken with my phone in the wind so not as sharp as I’d like. )
In the dappled shady border I find something new every day including these hyacinths which I must have planted after growing them in pots in previous years. They don’t all stand very straight though! I know the purply-pink one is Woodstock.
Close by I noticed that several patches of the usually blue Forget-me-nots are actually pink. I have seen mixed colours before with blue and lilac.
Remaining at the back of the garden I have lots of bulbs in one of my raised beds, the narcissi and tulips are beginning to bud up and the grape hyacinth and these beautiful white Chionodoxa luciliae Alba / Glory in the Snow / Scilla appear each year. I’m sure I planted 25 but never see more than a couple.
In the sunny border where I have cut back a lot of the erigeron kavarienskis this clump of tête-à-tête are looking rather nice with the magenta pink aubrieta beginning to flower beneath them.
Last year I bought several different varieties of grape hyacinths (which are neither grapes nor hyacinths) / muscari. I haven’t bought any new ones this year, but left them all in their containers to see if they would return. These ‘Mount Hood’ and ‘Night Eyes’ have reappeared in a large stone urn. Not quite as prolific as last year, but still it is nice to see them.
And finally another look at the species tulips ‘T.sylvestris’ a little further on than last week. Hopefully we’ll get some sun and I can show them fully open next time. ‘Persian Pearl’ is also making a come-back.
At the moment I am finding work in the garden difficult due to what I think is arthritis affecting my joints badly this winter, in particular the shoulders, elbows and hands, gripping anything is both difficult and painful especially using secateurs. I’m desperately hoping that warmer and drier weather will ease the problems.
Jim of Garden Ruminations is now our host and as a former nurseryman has a lot more than the SOS happening over on his blog so well worth following. As always, if you want a peek over other people’s garden walls then please pop over to his site where you find links to many more wonderful garden enthusiasts from all over the world. See here for the participant’s guide.
And given that the topic of Denzil’s Nature Photo Challenge #5 this week is Spring I shall link this post to his.
Cornwall in Colours 
I hope the warmer weather eases the joints and I hope you have a good GP. Even with the good ones it usually means having to be persistent. I’ve had to get some help in the garden so I can enjoy what I am able to do! Your garden looks lovely and I am inspired to have more bulbs!
The species tulips are very pretty – I like their more ‘natural’ look better than many of the more showy bred ones. T. sylvestris is particularly lovely.
I do hope the warmer weather gets to you soon. All this rain is not very helpful. Your six are all wonderful though. The scilla are my favourites, I have some here but so far only the leaves are showing and mine are not white – which seem to me now far more preferable!
The white ones are larger than my blue and pink scilla, but they all flop making it easy for the S&S to eat.
You’ve done well coping with your phone and the wind, and it’s lovely to see so much colour and plant variety in your garden.
Sorry to hear that you’ve been suffering from arthritis, and I notice in the comments that others are too. I’m one of those, and it’s throughout my body and has been for years. I think that because we enjoy gardening so much, we find different ways to deal with areas & jobs in the garden that are becoming difficult for us to handle. Using different tools, methods, asking for help (when we really want to do it ourselves), changing borders and plants are all things that can make gardening easier. In my garden, we’ve started making those changes, but getting to a workable result will take time.
The pain becomes a little bit easier as warmer weather arrives. 🙂
Thanks for the tips Catherine, I did get a young gardener in to prune some trees and climbers in December as I can’t safely use ladders any more. I’ll probably see if he can help me with the heavier stuff, though I am trying to simplify the work. Pots could be an issue.
A lovely collection of spring flowers Jude. I hope your arthritis eases off soon.
Thank you. It does seem better when it’s not raining.
How can they be so precise about the vernal equinox, Jude? Shouldn’t it be at the point where light turns to dark, which surely would have been earlier than that? Must look into it!!