Spring Flowers in the Garden

Spring is in full swing, my favourite time of year. My real love is wildflowers; a walk in the woods on a sunny day in May is just a joy. But the remarkable sudden growth of flowers in the garden is also a sign of the season. And after the undergardener has put so much time into shovelling, digging, transplanting, spreading mulch, moving rocks, etc., it's nice to see the actual flowers appear!


Crocus are among the very first, along with snowdrops, just after the aconite.


Daffodils bloom a little later, and we don't have any in the garden. But one small group got moved by accident thanks to some industrious squirrels, and it provides a handful of bright yellow blooms along the fencerow.



Varieties of early primrose, one of the first to add different colours to the garden.


These leaves you probably don't recognize, but they are so interesting I just couldn't resist. They are the fern-leaf peony, which will bloom soon, but the leaves themselves provide a fascinating pattern, rising very early out of the dirt.