First Day of Spring

 I'm a bit late with this post as the first day of Spring was last weekend. The weather forecast had been for dull and cloudy but it was wrong (surprise!) and we had a day of proper Spring sunshine to show off the flowers.

Crocuses are opening wide with the recent sun.














Later flowering daffodils brightening up the garden.

 A garden centre trip this week resulted in the purchase of some 'to clear' polyanthus which seem to have settled nicely - although the white flowers in the wall basket have had me fooled  several times into thinking there's snow there!
















The flowering currants are on the verge of breaking into flower - and then the fence with be hidden.











A couple of plants aren't looking so good though - both the outdoor fuchsias and the montbretia continued to grow all winter, and then the frosts of the last few weeks have zapped the green shoots. They're looking pretty miserable for now but I'm hoping that they'll soon be growing again.

March winds.....

 March is definitely going for the 'coming in like a lion' route this year. After a cold but sunny end to February, the weather has changed to wet and windy. I put extra pegs on the laundry yesterday to stop it floating away, and last night must have been even windier as we woke to find the compost lid drifted off behind the fruit bushes, tubs of flowers over-turned, and the hazel clematis support and canes holding a climbing rose knocked over.




Luckily nothing seems damaged - though some dead wood from the climbing rose had broken off. Fortunately today is sunny and quiet, so after a few scratches and rose thorns digging into my fingers the garden is more or less back in order (I haven't scrambled after the compost bin lid yet though) and I can go back to enjoying the early Spring flower display.




There are still snowdrops flowering but they're beginning to be out-shone by the later flowering bulbs - daffodils, crocus, and a solitary hyacinth - and polyanthus.

 The forsythia, though, is still only in bud, so maybe there's more cold weather to come. I hope not, I'd rather like March to go out 'like a lamb' with sunshine and the first real heat.

 I've also spotted rhubarb pushing it's way up - though some warm day I should weed out the forget-me-not seedlings before they overwhelm it!