At last some colour is coming into the garden with the spring bulbs. The water has returned to the little stream at the back of the garden and the daffodils we planted years ago are surviving and expanding, along our forest walk.
The front garden, unfortunately, has been chosen by moles as their new home. Soon the lawn will be getting cut regularly and we will have to live with the mole hills. Somehow brown circles are less noticeable than the brown heaps of soil.
More irritating is the appearance of lots of lesser Celandine everywhere in the garden. Even more irritating is that I suspect I have spread the seeds myself when I mulch the borders with leaves gathered from the trees growing at the bottom of the back garden. I accept the lesser Celandine there as it has always been there but it seems happier in the sunnier borders and quickly produces masses of little bulbils that are impossible to eradicate.
The bees used to ignore the lesser Celandine but now the flowers are in the light they visit them. A small compensation as the bees are spoiled for choice at the moment.
Our first plum tree has finished flowering but the second one has started and I see peach and ornamental flower trees opening in nearby gardens.
We decided to plant a new tub of bulbs this year. It is fun to look through the bulb catalogues in the autumn. We had decided to use scilla as the early flowers as the muscari of our previous pot had eventually taken it over. Kourosh was given more leeway with the colour scheme.
It certainly brightens these dull days but we did not get the progressive growth of the previous pot. Everything seemed to come up almost at the same time. I think it might have been partly due to the weather but the tulip “Stresa” seems particularly early.
I think we appreciated this shot of colour in a particularly dull spring but we have had one sunny day with temperatures soaring into the lower 20’s this week!
The most exciting moment this week was seeing the male Osmia cornuta flying around the bee boxes. Perhaps Spring is coming at last?
I even heard my first cuckoo this week.
a french garden 
It really is true that a pot of flowering bulbs brightens up dull days, and yours are very cheerful. I confess I love lesser celandine, but I know it has its place, which isn’t everywhere – I had a patch at the allotment overrun with it but did manage to remove most with persistence.
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I will try to appreciate them as I did them out where they are not welcome! Amelia
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Lesser celandine can be a problem when it spreads, I have some in my garden in places I can’t understand how it has got there! Wood ash apparently can help kill it off. Pots of bulbs are always welcome I think, regardless of the colours. I tend to pot mine in separate pots and then I can move them around to complement each other.
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We have plenty of wood ash so that might be a solution to tenacious clumps. Thank you. Amelia
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After the historically extreme (by our local standards) winter, it is more obvious to me why early spring bloom is so appreciated within other climates!
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As we say, every cloud has a silver lining. Amelia
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I should look for their silver linings as they go away.
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Wow, a cuckoo in March? It certainly must be spring! Your pot of bulbs is really pretty, and such a nice idea too. I planted some Muscari in a pot but they are no quicker to flower than the ones planted in the garden. Your daffodil walk looks lovely. 😃
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I love spring and this year it has been even more welcome. Amelia
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Your pot of bulbs is absolutely beautiful, plenty of colors, I love ! But the tulips seems very early in your garden.
Lesser Celandine are very invasive unfortunately but much appreciated by pollinators and their flowers illuminate the garden.
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None of our tulips are flowering yet except for those ones in the pot. I don’t know whether it is this variety “Stresa” that is so early or that tulips come up more quickly in pots. I rather think that it is the variety. Amelia
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I made a search on tulip Stresa. It’s an early one, very interesting, I didn’t know this variety. Probably, next autumn, I will buy some if I can find them in my garden center!
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We bought the bulbs online from Farmer Gracy. It is very tempting to browse online when it starts to get cold in the autumn :).
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Yes a cuckoo seems quite early but also very welcome. Here, lesser celandine are very important for the early spring bees and hoverflies. Do you see the Osmia cornuta on them?
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I have never seen Osmia cornuta on them but I have never had so many lesser celandine in sunny spots. It is only the male Osmia at the moment so I will see if the females land on them. Unless I manage to dig them all out (haha!). Amelia
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