Parent plants

The last few years, whenever I've been to gardens with my dad and we've seen lupins, he's always asked me, "Aren't you going to grow lupins?" I wasn't keen on them at first, but eventually I was won over by them and tried to grow them. Sadly, my 'Sunrise' lupins didn't want to grow, so in the end I bought some seedlings from Shannon's Garden Centre (which is celebrating its silver anniversary this month). They have grown up a treat, but I am not cutting them - they seem so big and beautiful, it wouldn't feel right. Maybe I'll buy more next year and then I can happily cut away.

Last year, I tried to grow zinnias from seed, but outdoor sowing doesn't have a high success rate here. None of them germinated. But this year I started them off in the greenhouse, and now they are flourishing! They were another 'parent plant' - I grew them because I liked the look of them but also because my mum used to have them in her family's garden in Sri Lanka. I thought I could give her a posy or two to remind her of her childhood home.

So here are a few zinnia posies. I love the boldness and bright colours of the flowers. The second one is mixed with a 'Genova' dahlia from Shannon's Garden Centre and Nicotiana 'Lime Green' from Higgledy, and the last posy is mixed with sweet peas, lemon balm (melissa) and flowering thyme.

Each little pledge

Spring comes anew and brings each little pledge

That still as wont my childish heart deceives

John Clare

After spending a lot of time enjoying the warm sunshine at the weekend, I find myself with a lot of paperwork to catch up on now! So here's a post full of photos of the springtime.

I cut some Delft Blue and a Pink Pearl hyacinth, a Heart's Delight tulip, a lone crocus, a Penny's Pink hellebore, and quince blossom for some milk bottles. The hyacinths smell gorgeous, so it's worth cutting a few if you have any to bring indoors.

I confess I squealed when I saw that my forget-me-nots from Shannon's Garden Centre had begun to flower! I have been assured by the lovely #Britishflowers community on Twitter that squealing over flowers is normal.

The promise of this pink bluebell will keep me running back to the greenhouse every morning now.

Finally, I bought violets from Thompsons and planted some in hanging baskets. There's a dark beauty in the centre of one basket that puts paid to the idea of violets being shrinking; how bold is this stunning flower?

But these two remind me of the "shy little violets" in the 1951 Disney film of Alice in Wonderland.

I potted up the rest of the violets to bring indoors. They are such sweet flowers.

Here Comes the Sun

The mildest winter I can remember seems to be coming to an end...although, this being Britain, there could be a late freeze on the way! In my optimism, I have begun to sow some zinnias, fountain grass, and cleome in the greenhouse.

In the first half of February, there were still roses and juicy-red rosehips, sage and viburnum.

The crocuses almost drowned in the swamp of a winter garden, but there were enough to add some colour to the grey and brown, and to cut for a tiny vase.

Now they've gone, and the narcissi and hyacinths are about to take their place. The hyacinths have lasted three years and several moves.

My muscari looked like they were going to flower months ago, but there has just been a lot of leaves. Now the narcissi and tulips have caught up, and many of them look on the cusp of flowering. I'm hoping the Bridal Crown narcissi (front row, middle) flower - I saw them at Chelsea in 2012 and they looked beautiful, but mine didn't flower last year...probably because I tried to force them indoors in a freezing cold flat!

The Honeymoon tulips didn't flower last year, so I'm ever so excited to see this now. And the beautiful, variegated foliage of the Chinatown tulips offered so much promise last year, so I am hoping they deliver flowers this year! Most of the bulbs were bought at the RHS Wisley show in 2012, from Bridgend-based Pheasant Acre Plants.

In other news, the Moody Blues nigella (from Sarah Raven) are still looking good, and in the last week, the Higgledy Garden Nora Barlow aquilegia have grown a little more. The cornflowers are looking decidedly ill though. so I don't think I'll get any flowers from my autumn-sown seedlings. I'll have to try my luck with spring sowings instead.

The autumn-sown sweet peas are looking ok, and hopefully they will fare better than the spring sowings I attempted with no joy last year. I know it's too early to move them outside, but I got impatient looking at my sweet pea pots, which are all ready for new plants, so I planted a couple. I'm just curious to see what will happen!

There are two hanging baskets filled with forget-me-nots - blue in one and pink in the other. They are from the wonderful Shannon's Garden Centre in Forest Hill, and the idea of forget-me-not hanging baskets came from Seedball.

I bought a few pots of bluebells to see how they grow - one pot of English bluebells and one pot of pink Spanish bluebells. The Penny's Pink hellebores are still doing well. And finally, I spotted lots of new growth in the garden, including these sedums. Come on, springtime!