Spring garden inspiration

It doesn't look like the first day of Spring in my garden. At best, it looks like the end of a long winter with lots of branches brought down by the wind everywhere you walk; more brown than green everywhere you look. But I am concentrating on the fact that I have three clumps of different snowdrops (Galanthus) in bloom and more varieties pushing up. If the warmer weather holds I may see their flowers this week. 

The Frustrated Gardener blog recently visited the RHS early spring garden show in London. He posted a number of pictures but a couple of them really caught my eye because they focused on snowdrops in situ with other spring plants. I've got the snowdrops but I haven't done very well in placing them with other early bloomers that will help to show them off to best advantage. Isn't this just a perfect vignette? 

The photo above is of Avon Bulbs’ gold medal winning display which included Galanthus ‘Moortown Mighty’ and G. ‘Trumps.’ I am trying to figure out what plants I might add to bloom at the same time as snowdrops because ferns and mondo grass would never show up this early in my garden. Hellebores are coming along and one plant is even blooming. I plan to cut back Hellebore and Epimedium foliage today, so we'll see what — if anything — happens.   

The snowdrop pictured above is Galanthus ‘Trumps.’ Isn't it a stunner! Alas, there is no way I will ever buy anything with any version of the name "Trump" on it, even a snowdrop. Luckily I probably could not find it to buy even if I wanted to. 

There's a bit of sun shining this morning though the forecast is cloudy. But it's the first day of spring and the high is predicted to reach 54 degrees F. so I am going to take advantage of it, especially as rain is coming later in the week.

Comments

[Erin @ The Impatient Gardener]

Happy Spring, Linda! Those snowdrops are lovely. Still no sign of mine. I wonder what happened to them? Things are ever so slowly starting to pop up in my very messy garden. Looking forward to enough sunny days in a row that I'll be able to get in the garden to do a little cleanup.

[Barbara H.]

Spring is here in Alabama, though lately we've had a few scattered nights of freezing temps, so things have slowed down a little. Every spring I realize I have no snowdrops but I don't seem to rectify that situation. On the plus side, I got a small cutting from a pussy willow at an estate sale last week. I'm hoping it roots for me.

[Lisa at Greenbow]

My black mondo grass doesn't go dormant unless it is a horrrible cold winter. I might just put some galanthus by it. Nice idea. Of course it will be some time before ferns begin to come up. All except the autumn fern actually still has some fronds. They look battered. I will cut them back. Have fun in your garden. Happy Spring.

[Linda Brazill]

Very messy in my garden as well. Worked about 5 hours today but only I can see the difference!

[Linda Brazill]

I can't wait to see if my willows will root.

[Linda Brazill]

Alas, I can't grow the black version of mondo grass which is so cool looking. My autumn fern has fronds that are still green and not too bad looking so maybe I should plant some snowdrops near it. Better than bare dirt!

[Peter/Outlaw]

An inspired idea to combine snowdrops with other plants with a similar bloom time. Pretty pictures!

[Beth @ PlantPostings]

I'm starting to see little Tommies popping up here and there and a few Snowdrops. The Hellebores have been ready to bloom for weeks and the Daffodils are in a holding pattern. Each week, the forecast seems a little springier. Soon, very soon! :)

[Linda Brazill]

Same here. Spring is such a tease in our part of the world.