Changing Times
Winter seems to be dragging its feet this year, affecting the usual successional colours of early spring flowers. Here in north Aberdeenshire, snowdrops, which often appear in December, did not start to really flower en masse this year until mid-February and there were still many flowering clumps to be seen in mid-March.
Snowdrops growing in mid-march in a local woodland garden
Elsewhere, embankments and verges are filled with mixtures of multi-coloured crocuses and daffodils and the thicker green leaves of tulips are also everywhere. Instead of planned successional flowering it seems we have gone from nothing to everything, in no time at all.
A mixture of municipal and guerilla gardening
And the insect world seems slightly out-of-step too. I have already seen my first butterfly and, here and there, bees can be seen out foraging. I hope they survive the yo-yoing temperatures.
A foraging bee enjoying the many crocus flowers
Living near the coast, our microclimate is mild compared to just a few kilometres in land, where night temperature can still drop below zero. Friends are holding off planting their veggies, while we have already begun to sow our raised-beds. Amongst the nearby beach-side heathlands the wildflowers are bursting into life. Patches of heather are just beginning to show growth and earthy colours. One of my favourite early wildflowers is Coltsfoot, highly regarded in the past for its medicinal qualities, but less commonly used for this purpose today. This year I found it growing in a new spot, between the beachside highest tideline and the adjacent roadway! Many wildflowers do prefer poor soil conditions, but I have also found Coltsfoot growing in a well-cultivated castle garden near-by, where it may once have been part of the castle’s apothecary garden.
Coltsfoot, distinguishable from dandelions by the ‘scaly’ stems
According to locals, over the past winter we have had much more rain than normal when compared to the last 4 decades and there are many new small watercourses flowing from our nearby sea cliffs. Some have caused new landslides. At the foot of the cliffs, some of the grassy slopes have become temporarily water-logged, the perfect environment for the Lesser Celandine which grows widely in one particular area, dotting the landscape with its cheerful yellow star-shaped flowers. It is a member of the Buttercup family and supports insects and biodiversity. This plant is however regarded by many horticulturalist in the UK as an invasive species, something to keep an eye on and is poisonous to grazing animals. That said, it’s flowers are regarded by many as the harbinger of spring.
Bright yellow Celandine flowers growing above heart-shaped leaves
Many spring flowering plants hug the ground, having evolved to minimise their exposure to the wintery elements. By contrast, most woody shrubs are just beginning to emerge from winter dormancy, with no more than a hint of colour as buds begin to reveal themselves on the bare wood. However there is one hardy woody shrub that defies the norm – Forsythia. Once established, Forsythia cover themselves in bright yellow flowers even before any leaves appear and, often being 2m or more in height when fully established, can create a short but show-stopping colourful spring display to brighten any garden or municipal planting scheme. They can be trained too, to create a colourful specimen plant or an alternative hedging plant.
Forsythia, trained to form a hedge
Although many spring flowering plants are white or shades of yellow, I thought I would finish this blog by mentioning one small spring flowering bulb that, once established, will bring a spring shock of rich blue to any border - the Scilla siberica (included in SeeHow). I had quite forgotten about this little beauty until quite by chance, I recently came across it growing along a footpath verge in a city suburb. It had spread from an adjacent garden, which reminded me what a tough little plant the Scilla is, despite its diminutive size. What it lacks in height, it makes up for by its habit of spreading to form a delightful blue carpet, often merging border and lawn (if allowed). Unexpectedly coming across the small-but-strikingly-blue drooping flowers, I was stopped in my tracks – held captive by the beautiful ‘unspringlike’ colour at my feet. Isn’t that why we garden after all? The yellow Celandine may be the ‘harbinger of spring’ but the little blue Scilla is a foretaste of the whole colourful gardening year to come … can’t wait!
Scilla siberica spreads rapidly by self-seeding
The above Text and all Photographs are copyright of Wincenty (Wicek) Sosna. Please contact SeeHow for permission to reproduce in any way, in part or as the complete text.