The Guardian Weekend - UK (2021-02-27)

• for gardens and windowsills,
  balconies or the front step – to cheer
  the coming months, and to sow seeds
  that will fl ower throughout summer.
  Garden centres are open and many
  nurseries off er mail-order plants.
  So, if like me, you intend to cultivate
  yourself a remedial colour fi x, here
  are fi ve ideas for pots featuring the
  best early spring bloomers – but
  also annuals that will fl ourish
  until autumn. If not for your own
  wellbeing, do it for the pollinators.

March No fl ower kickstarts spring

like a hellebore. Among their many

varieties, hybrids of H. orientalis

(the Lent en rose) are considered the

most colourful, ranging white, pink

through to pale yellow, with petals

often delicately freckled and anthers

an eye-catching citrus. Make these

the centrepiece, cutting away the

large palmate leaves to both expose

their captivating blooms and make

room for an underplanting of

either bright white Cardamine

trifolia , coppery Ajuga reptans or

It feels a little odd, approaching a
second spring in the shadow of a
dreadful cloud. I will never forget
the experience of rush-sowing a
bucket of wildfl ower seed in a park
close to my work, in March last year,
before packing up tools and heading
home for lockdown. The fl owers
bloomed, but I barely saw them.
Of course, spring 2020 was
unsurpassably beautiful, delivering
the kind of weather that made
plants fl ush with gratitude. On my
daily walks I witnessed a rolling
succession of front gardens : muscari
never bluer, lilacs never brighter
and spectacular blossom s. Spring
fl owers , the fi rst to follow the dark
months , feel especially rousing :
anemones, primulas, lungworts ,
tulips and narcissi, and the profusion
of bulbs whose emergence is
accompanied by lush foliage and the
unfurling of ferns.
This year, we have a head
start on another uncertain
spring: now is the time to
prepare pots of joyful blooms

March

Clockwise, from bottom left: Anemone

blanda; Erythronium ‘Pagoda’;

Cardamine trifolia; hart’s-tongue fern;

Narcissus poeticus; Ajuga reptans; N.

‘Tête-à-tête’; Epimedium x versicolor;

Lenten rose

April

Clockwise, from bottom left: wallfl ower

‘Blood Red Covent Garden’; forget-

me-nots; Uvularia grandifl ora; black

tulips; wallfl owers; common cowslips;

Pulmonaria ‘Sissinghurst White’

May

Clockwise, from bottom left:

Hesperis matronalis; Aquilegia vulgaris

‘Nora Barlow’; Hesperis matronalis

‘Dame’s Rocket’; A. vulgaris ‘Munstead

White’; Euphorbia oblongata

Early summer

From left: pot marigold; love-in-a-mist;

cornfl owers

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May

Early summer

the sulphurous sprays of barrenwort

( Epimedium x versicolor ).

If you missed the boat planting

narcissi last autumn, now is the

time to pick up potted bulbs “in

the green ”. Although pricier and

more limited in range, you have the

advantage of precise positioning.

The commonplace ‘ Tête-à-tête ’

daff odil will complement this

scheme well, as will similarly

unpretentious species like N.

poeticus or the miniature N.

‘Minnow’. Fill remaining space

with colourful additions such as

the dainty Erythronium ‘Pagoda’

or vibrant, cornfl ower-blue

Anemone blanda. Finally, add

either hart’s-tongue or Korean rock

fern ( Polystichum tsussimense ) for

contrasting greenery. These provide

a foliage foil for all three pots.

April The skies are brightening,

the days lengthening; time for the

mid-spring faithfuls. Traditionally

this is wallfl ower season ( Erysimum

cheiri ) and there’s rarely a shortage