05/02/2022
So February has begun. It’s certainly not spring yet, but there are hints that things are moving. It starts slowly … signs of a new season. Looked for daily, the changes are small.
1) Was it only last week that there were glossy nubs of snowdrop leaves breaking through the soil? And suddenly, after one rather gloriously sunny weekend, there are swathes of pure white drops everywhere. These are brilliant flowers for shaking off the effects of frosts, wind and rain. They always manage to pop back up, looking fresh again.
2) Colour is gradually intensifying in the swelling buds on the Cornelian Cherry. Are any breaking open? Yes, looking closely, I can see that there are! I can see puffs of tiny, lime-yellow flowers. Soon the tree will positively glow with them.
3) I spotted a punch of purple elegance further down the border yesterday. Our first iris reticulata flowers are open. It must have happened over night! Sadly, there is already a hole in one petal, which I’ve accidentally positioned right in the middle of the photo. 😦 Even so, the flowers manage to look regal.
4) Winter honeysuckle has been generously unfurling new blooms all winter and the pace is stepping up now. I’ve not seen bees on it yet, but the flowers are luring passing visitors (mainly me) with their sherbet scents and are ready to offer nectar to hungry insects. Last year’s leaves are, unusually, still hanging on the branches.
5) I am just starting to tidy away seeds heads from last year’s flowers, mostly where they have collapsed and look messy. However, I caught this shimmering view across a patch of garlic chives on Thursday. I think they can stay for a little while yet!
6) These are not from our garden. We have some daffs that are nearly in flower, but it will be at least a couple of weeks before they open. However, on the weekly shop I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of bunches of highly scented Tazetta narcissus. Definitely worth spending a few pounds on these deliciously sunny faces!
So, those are my Six for this week. Not fancy, but there is nothing pedestrian about these familiar heralds of spring. However, I am sure that there are many more interesting and unusual beauties to enjoy via The Propagator’s blog, so click on the link to see all the other Sixes.
Meanwhile, have a good weekend and Happy Gardening!
Frogend dweller's Blog 
I’m really enjoying seeing all these signs of Spring in gardens.
Oh yes, me too! I love walking (and peering into people’s front gardens) at this time of year to enjoy the spring flowers
What a beauty these daffs! Mine haven’t flowered yet but seeing them there in a bouquet makes me want to speed up the end of winter! 😍
Thanks Fred. Yes, if only time wasn’t linear! I could do with February going by more quickly, but May and June passing more slowly 😉
February blooms are so exciting. Your iris are a glorious colour.
Yes, I always think of February as dull. I think that it is just because the usual weather is so grim, but we’ve had some lovely sunny days this year, which makes everything brighter!
Lovely to see that spring has started for you! I am rather envious. Maybe I’ll find some daffs for sale next visit to the store. 🙂
Hope you found some spring flowers to cheer you in the end. Spring is definitely painting a bit of colour about the garden already. It is wonderful to see.
That is heartening! Yes, my spouse bought a couple bunches of daffs (grown in the UK!) and a bunch of blue hyacinths, which look lovely together. 🙂
Lovely selection, you must have some beautiful perfume wafting round your garden! It’s a wonderful time of year with something new flowering every day.
Thanks Pauline! I’d have more to sniff if I remembered to prune half my shrubs in a timely fashion 😉
It’s special fun to see your irises. Our blue-eyed grass, which is in the iris family, is appearing here and there; at least, it was before our latest freeze. But it will be back. I had no idea there’s a winter honeysuckle. Every time I visit here, I learn something new!
Is your blue-eyed grass a sisyrinchium? I grew it here in pots for a while, but lost it in a house move. As for winter honeysuckle, I only learnt about it on a gardening course when we were doing the weekly ‘Name ten plants … ‘ quiz (that flower in winter in this case). Then, of course, I started to notice it everywhere!
Yes. We have several species here in Texas; fifteen is the number that comes to mind. In my area, there are three or maybe four species, but the differences are so slight, and the cross-breeding so common, I don’t worry about them much.
The irises are an incredible color. I relate to your decision not to cut back the garlic chives. I left up a couple of the especially lovely seedheads when cutting back the perennials this weekend.
🙂 Of course, if I were organised, I would do something creative with them when I finally take them down! 😉
My favourite for doing something creative is the dead stems and flowerheads of agapanthus.
Good thinking! … I like the candlebras of honeylilies too
Yes, every glimpse of a new bloom is a delight at this time of year
Yes, it is like going from black and white to colour!
Great analogy! 👍
Lovely photos and spring is on the way!
Yay! 🙂