My goodness what a change from the extremely wet winter.  I have been out with the hose a few times to keep some of the recently planted shrubs and small plants hydrated.  The later of the narcissi have now flowered, most of them beat the slugs, but a few have been nibbled before they flowered, some flowers nibbled while in full flower, and a couple chewed down to about 2 inches high!
The Actea is a very tall slender narcissi with a subtle scent.  The Pipit is a small petite variety which also have a nice scent.  The centre and cup of Pipit fades to a pale creamy yellow.

Narcissus ‘Actaea’  poeticus

Narcissus jonquil ‘Pipit’

Narcissus jonquil ‘Pipit’

The rhododendron looks fine after it’s move at the end of last year.  The pieris which was leaning over to the right and was very top heavy has now been chopped quite far down.  There was already new growth from the trunk further down, so after a good feed and water I am hoping it will bush out from the base.

leaning Pieris japonica ‘Forest flame’

chopped Pieris japonica ‘Forest flame’

The ivy-leaved toadflax is looking good just now and although some other plants are gradually coming into flower, most of the narcissi are over, so too are the corydalis, and some primroses.  I am waiting rather impatiently to see if the nepeta and coreopsis have made it through the winter, as I don’t see any signs of growth yet.

Cymbalaria muralis (ivy-leaved toadflax)

Cymbalaria muralis (ivy-leaved toadflax)

And now for the mistake: I had originally thought of putting the sarcoccoca (winter flowering with fabulous scent) at the back of the garden where it would get quite a lot of shade, but a bit of sun in the morning.  I then changed my mind and thought it would be nice to have the scent drift up onto the patio area and so I asked Harry to plant it just in front of the patio.  WHY DID I DO THAT??  It gets much more sun there, and every day I checked on it, and it just looked sadder, and sadder.  It finally dawned on me that it didn’t like that much sun, so it is now in the shadier stumpery area of the garden.  So far a few of the branches look like they are perking up, so hopefully it will survive.

very sad looking Sarcococca hookerian var. digyna ‘Purple stem’

Now is the time of year for the ferns to start uncurling their croziers, and each fern unfurls differently.  Oh how I wish I could remember all my ferns names!  I will attempt the names of these ones.
Now I am just waiting for some rain, it might just be a shower, in which case I may have to get the hose out tomorrow.

Osmunda regalis ‘Purpuraascens’

Asplenium of some sort

Polystichum ?

Dryopteris crispa congesta

a few more plants have come into flower and the sun has been out on this lovely mild day.  In the stumpery; I planted some wallflower last year by the garage wall, beside the apple trees, in amongst the cyclamen and crocus.  The crocus are looking good but the cyclamen have not flowered this year yet.  The Helleborus argutifolius are looking good (apart from the bird poo that is!).  They are planted beneath a tree where the pigeons, crows and jackdaws often sit.  The snow drops and golden Japanese rush help to brighten the shady area.  Just last week I bought and planted 3 small cyclamen coum Ruby star and they are so pretty.  Along from them, near the stump, is the primrose ( primula vulgaris) and a lovely creeping fern (polypodium vulgare).  In the raised bed; I normally have to cut back the huge fern (Polystichum setiferum ‘cristato Pinnulum’) around this time of year but it is looking fabulous just now so I won’t touch it.  On the patio; the tiny yellow iris (Katherine’s gold) are looking nice and bright and a few of the other Hellebores are flowering but pretty much look the same as last year so I won’t take more photos yet.  There is still a chance of some bad weather and snow before the spring really gets going, but so far, so good.

Purple crocus

Helleborus argutifolius

Cyclamen coum ‘Ruby star’

Primula vulgare and Polypodium vulgare ‘Bifido grandiceps’

Polystichum setiferum ‘cristato Pinnulum’

Iris ‘Katherine’s gold’ alpine

and things are gradually slowing down in the garden. When I first started the stumpery area, I filled in a lot of spaces with ferns (soft shield ferns I think) with the intention of replacing some of them later with different plants.  Some of these ferns are huge now and are really outgrowing the space or hiding other plants, and not just in the stumpery. So, at the weekend, my husband dug out one of them from beside the ramp and replaced it with Persicaria amplex Blackfield – I love the colour of the flowers.  I just hope it isn’t going to become a thug.  I have another 5 or 6 of the same ferns so I will ask hubby to divide a couple of them so at least they will be smaller, and completely dig up the rest so I can buy some new plants for the spaces.  He also dug out the Rosa rugosa which has been a big disappointment.  It has been there for 3 years and only produced 3 roses!  All the rest of the growth has been hight and suckers. I would really like another rose there but it is just too shady, unless I can persuade our next lot of neighbours to chop down their rather large shrubs and trees.  I have acquired a bench to put in the dry shady area at the back of the garden but as not a lot will grow in deep dry shade so I will have to think about what else to put around the bench.  The corner wall is in need of repair but again I will have to wait and speak to our new neighbours.  The trouble with that is that the actual owners are planning on splitting that house and garden into two, but they haven’t actually started any work yet so I may have a heck of a long wait for that work to be done and the house sold.

At the Annual flower show last weekend my little Davallia canariensis Hare’s foot fern) won an award!  Not only did it win first prize for the foliage plant section, but it got the Jones trophy for best exhibit in pot pants too. Dead chuffed.  I am so glad I scrubbed the pot the night before and took off the not-quite-so-attractive fronds.

Ramp with overgrown fern to the right.

Ramp now with Persicaria amplex Blackfield

Davallia canariensis and Jones trophy