This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Sunday 22 February 2015

Colours of Spring

Three of my favourite plants this time of year...

- crocus bulbs
- flowering heather, and
- snowdrops.

These gorgeous colours are a sign that Spring is on its way. And even though we could still get snow, hail, frost, or wintry rain showers, Spring is coming, and it feels great getting outside into the garden this time of year!
Flowering heather - this quick growing shrub is good value for money and it seems to flower for long periods! Often these plants are sold in tiny pots for £1.99 and they will double or triple in size in a year or two.
Snowdrops are gorgeous and are one of my favourite February plants. Grown from bulbs, they can be divided easily to make new plants every few years. This makes them quite good value for money. They look great in drifts under trees.

I took much of December and January off in the garden, and am only really getting back outside into the garden this week. I'm looking forward to sunny weekends to start lots of new projects and getting seed sown!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

11 comments:

  1. I love all these plants as they herald the coming of Spring.

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  2. Hi Kelli, It looks to me like Spring has made it to your neck of the woods.....I'm always looking for plants that are a bargain and yours are so pretty.....eye candy for color deprived snow dwellers.....
    Happy Gardening!

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  3. I've just been looking back at some photos of last year and I see that the 2015 Spring bulbs are about 2 weeks behind where they were this time last year. I have a few Crocuses flowering, but no Irises or Daffodils yet. There is a roundabout on a road near us which is currently covered in spectacular purple Heather (in an area appropriately named Elvetham Heath!)

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  4. Yes spring is arriving slowly but surely, also in Ireland. It´s always exciting to see first snowdrops and crocuses again. Heather is always good for colour in autumn, winter and spring.
    I am also looking forward to start sowing, my ordered seeds have not arrived yet.

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  5. It's lovely to see the new growth in the garden at this time of year isn't it x

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  6. We have a winter gardening break too and have yet to really resume as it's bitterly cold in spite of the sunshine. The spring flowers are giving us a nudge though.

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  7. I haven't ventured back out in the garden we have bitterly cold winds at the moment - I shall wait for more spring weather. My crocus are just popping through now it is lovely to see them.

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  8. My garden is frozen solid and sound asleep. But I'm glad it's spring somewhere! Love all that new life. :o)

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  9. I just adore snowdrops! We are nearly a month ahead of last year's blooming time-frame right now...our winter has been nearly non-existent. You have all the signs that spring is around the corner!

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  10. It sounds like you've got lots of plans for the garden after your break for winter. It's still too cold for me, I'm holding off for a while longer.

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  11. How lucky you are to have spring so early! We are quite behind this year, there's still a lot of snow on the ground. It's very discouraging. It's so hard to believe that spring will even arrive.

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