Early March Flowers- What's in my Garden 2018

Hello Everyone :)

We're now into the Spring & even with all the cold weather going on around us, I have a few more flowers popping up & out to say hello in my (and some of my friend's gardens shown here) garden.

Early March is the major transition between winter to spring, with many beautiful early flowering plants crossing over from one season to the next. 

Before the snow hit, these are a few of my early flowering beauties that are continuing into March, and as I said there are a few flowers here from friends gardens or local gardens... I couldn't not take photos of them to show you!

Lottie Newitt Garden Blog- Crocus in March

Starting with the beautiful Crocus.

 I had a load of these beauties pop up in the lawn late Jan, but we seem to be having a second flurry as we move on into the early spring! This variety of Crocus is a slightly deeper mauve than the lawn Crocus we enjoyed last month. These are popping up in our currently overgrown, now non-existent borders but are looking vibrant, crisp & fresh with a hit of sunset sunshine in the centre of each bloom. 

Crocus are so easy to grow! No matter how big your growing space is, you can always find a space for a clump of Crocus. Even if its a small pot full that you can place on a windowsill in your home, you really can enjoy them anywhere. Normally you would plant the corms in the autumn, but if you didn't get round to this or didn't know this then never fear! Right now you can pick up pre-planted potted Crocus bulbs from local nurseries or garden centres that just need planting straight out. These will also come back year after year too!

Lottie Newitt Garden Blog- Pretty tasseled Witch Hazel blooms

Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise'

Commonly known as Witch Hazel, this beautiful garden shrub can make the move from winter to early spring so wonderful. With the pretty sunshine yellow-orange tassel-like blooms, sometimes described as spider looking flowers, that cheer up the garden with their bright & cheery colour. These blooms not only look fantastic hanging from the naked hazel branches, they smell absolutely divine too. The fragrance released from each tasseled flower is super sweet, filling the air & your senses with joy. Hamamelis can reach up to 4 metres in the garden making them ideal for filling a large space that needs something pretty to look at throughout the year. In the summer Witch Hazel is covered with pretty deep green leaves, providing coverage & a great backdrop for other flowering plants in the summer. 

Lottie Newitt Garden Blog- Camellia 'Silver Anniversary' looking splendent

Camellia 

A garden classic, an evergreen beauty, an elegant bloomer, the Camellia is a garden wonder.

This is Camellia 'Silver Anniversary' showing off it's wonderful pure white blooms that flower from late winter well into mid-spring. The buds are gorgeous too, starting off as a tight green, shiny little point of a bud that slowly transforms into a ready to burst buds that show off a cheeky bit of petal before fully blossoming into elegant white, double flowers. Camellia's make for great border plants & large container plants with their gorgeous glossy evergreen leaves & pretty blooms, however you do need to ensure that the soil they are planting & growing in is ericaceous (acidic). If you have a non acidic soil you can add ericaceous compost to the area where you are planting your Camellia and top up the ericaceous level throughout the year using ericaceous feed or sequestered of iron along with top dressing around the base of the plant with ericaceous compost every autumn. If planting in a pot simply use ericaceous compost & keep topped up as above.

Lottie Newitt Garden Blog- Skimmia japonica ornamental berries

Skimmia japonica 

Berried & beautiful. That is all.

OK I won't just let these beautiful vibrant red berries do all the talking! A fabulous evergreen shrub that dresses the garden with vibrant pops of red throughout the winter and well in to the spring. The leaves are a gorgeous bottle green that provide interest for 12 months of the year and also provide a great hiding place & home for small birds & mammals. The foliage is a wonderful addition to your cutting garden, providing sturdy foliage for flower arranging & wreaths. The berries not only look great during the dull months of winter & help boost the colours in the garden during early spring, they also provide food for wildlife. Another plant that prefers a lightly acidic soil, although not essential it's worth knowing that if the leaves turn yellow they may just need an acid/iron top up, using sequestered iron in the summer and autumn can help keep yellowing foliage at bay.

Lottie Newitt Garden Blog- Sunny Narcissus Tete a Tete

Now for a ray of pretty sunshine... Narcissus Tete a Tete.

I obviously couldn't miss this old favourite out of my blog! No matter what, every year that I see a Tete a tete emerging & bursting into bloom I just skip for joy. The bright sunny yellow blooms are a major signal to me that spring is on its way or well and truly in full swing. Similar to the Crocus that I mentioned earlier in this blog, normally you would plant Tete a Tete bulbs in the autumn in pots, baskets or borders. However you can also buy pre-planted & pot grown Narcissus Tete a Tete from garden centres & plant nurseries in late winter-early spring so even if you missed out on the autumn planting period, you can still get these potted versions now to plant out in your own garden to enjoy the pretty blooms.

Lottie Newitt Garden Blog- Cyclamen coum

Cyclamen coum, the hardy Cyclamen

Cyclamen coum comes in a variety of pretty shades of pink, purple & white that appear from mid winter and can flower well into the spring months. The perfect ground cover plant for the winter & early spring garden, you can plant in large clumps & drifts to create a show stopping carpet of colour in your garden. Cyclamen coum is a hardy variety which will return year on year and once settled in to its position can spread wide too. These pretties will happily thrive under large trees, in woodland, borders & even lawns.

I have so many plant photos & varieties to blog about right now, it's hard to know where to start. I hope this was a good place to begin our spring flower & plant journey, vibrant colours & cool colours to get the spring gardening vibes going!

So, watch this space for more beautiful blooms to come!

Happy Gardening All

Lottie x