March Marches In

March was such an unusually warm and sunny month that I couldn't chain myself to the computer to record the awakening of the early perennials, so here I am doing it in May.

Corylopsis pauciflora is always reliable and a much more graceful harbinger of spring than the ubiquitous Forsythia

In the shade at its feet, barely visible as a dark blur in the above photo, is Hellebore 'Harlequin Gem', now starting to become a substantial plant. Its inky blooms contrast well with the Corylopsis above it.

Of course, many of the hellebores were pushing through the last of the snow in February.
Since I've recorded them in detail in previous years, I'm just going to
add one more this time.

'Peppermint Ice' is always an eye catcher.

 This year a white self-sown seedling has bloomed beside it and I like the contrast.

Meanwhile, across the garden Salix gracilistyla 'Melanocarpa' is flourishing.

'Melanocarpa' means black berry but it's the young catkins that are black (with red tips.) As they age they turn, like many of us, to silver-grey. Both stages contrast well with the reddish stems.



Narcissus 'Jack Snipe' has now taken over  from 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' ".  The flowers are pretty and shapely but it's beginning to be more work, as it multiplies fast and the clumps are getting too large for their allotted space.

Added to that, the foliage hangs around afterwards looking increasingly shabby, and you can't cut it back because it's feeding next year's flowers. Last year I tried my usual trick of planting a perennial that will emerge and screen the collapsing leaves, but so far it's not working: the perennial I chose is still dormant!

Time for a re-think.