Are you wondering what plants will really make your
Pulmonarias, or lungworts, are the cheerful harbingers of spring. In a genus that can look a little bit, well, scruffy, Blue Ensign stands out by virtue of its smart, neatly pointed foliage, and the almost electric blue of its flowers.
- Impervious to the cold and wet spring weather
- Bright jewel like flowers to lift your spirits
- Easy to propagate by division
- Can cross-pollinate with other pulmonarias you have to produce less vibrant hybrids
- Leaves can droop in drought summers, but just shear them off
- Can spread and pop up elsewhere, but not invasively
Of all the early flowering clematis, 'Francis Rivis' is the most elegant. With elongated pale violet sepals and white inner stamens, it carries an air of sophistication unmatched by others in this species.
- Reliable flowerer in mid spring, no matter what the weather has thrown at us
- Requires little or no pruning
- Flowers are followed by attractive seed heads
- May not suit a very windy site
- Has a slight dormant season in late summer when leaves droop
- Slightly pricey, but a good investment as should live for many years
A real Growbag favourite, this unique willow is guaranteed to lift your spirits in early spring. Instead of the usual white pussy willow, 'Mount Also' throws out beautiful pink puffs which look gorgeous in the garden especially amongst coloured dogwood stems, and are also great for cutting and bringing indoors.
- Very tolerant of different soil conditions and can cope with winter wet
- Completely hardy, even in exposed sites
- Easy to propagate so you can quickly have a clump of them
- Foliage is unremarkable in summer so plant something herbaceous beside it to take over
- Fast growing so may need pruning back
- All willows can suck water out of drains so best to plant away from your house
One of the very best hellebores you can buy. More robust than the usual Lenten rose, and with slightly out turned flowers 'Anna's Red' makes a real statement in a spring border.
- Striking flower colour in solid deep red/purple
- Beautiful marbled leaves
- Long flowering period
- May take a year or two to hit its stride
- Leaves may need a little tidy up after some hard frosts
- Quite pricey, but will live for years
There are many deserving chaenomeles cultivars (common name japonica) but this one is exceptional. Flowering for almost six months of the year in pretty pale hues 'Pink Lady' starts blossoming soon after Christmas and carries on until about June.
- Length of flowering period
- Perfect for cutting at a time when blooms are scarce
- In a hot summer will produce fruits for culinary use
- A hard frost will damage blooms, but will soon reclothe from buds
- Quite vigorous, but responds well to pruning
- Has spines, so best to wear gloves when pruning
A terrific favourite with us 3 Growbags - we each have one!
Such a pretty little flowering cherry, whose delicate nodding flowers belie its tough constitution. Smaller than an average cherry it will live as happily in a large pot as in your garden.
- Small and slow-growing, eventually reaching only about 8 foot
- Fiery red autumn colour gives it a second season of action
- Relatively inexpensive compared with other flowering cherries
- Better in its own space away from other shrubs
- Can be slow to establish when planted in the ground
- Needs regular watering when pot grown, not tolerant of drought conditions
All daphnes are garden-worthy, but if it's scent that you are after then 'Jacqueline Postill' must surely lift the crown. A friend who lives in a sheltered crescent of houses says her neighbours can tell when hers breaks bud by the delicious perfume that assails them as they open their back doors! Pink flushed flowers open in profusion from deep pink buds, as early as January.
- Very highly scented
- Prolific flowerer
- Attractive to early bumble bees
- Needs a sheltered site to perform well
- Can be affected by a very severe winter, but will usually sprout back from the rootstock
- Can be expensive for a good-sized specimen, but worth the money
Pulsatilla vulgaris, the pasque flower, is surely one of the brightest jewels in the spring garden. Always associated with Easter, the nodding violet flowers dance in the breeze about pretty grey felted leaves.
- Bone hardy, it will thrive even in exposed, windy sites.
- Its fluffy seedbeds are almost as attractive in summer as its flowers are in spring
- Very long-lived
- Can be capricious in getting established.
- Needs a sunny site to flower well
- Doesn't like sitting in wet soil, so if your garden is on the moist side its best grown in pots (where they are very happy if mine are anything to go by!)
Epimediums are a great solution for a spring border in dry shade, and 'Amber Queen' is one of the very best. Its emerging spring leaves are a delicate burgundy, before the soft yellow flowers tipped with apricot follow on tall wiry stems. Although often grown in shade this epicedium can also cope with a sunnier site.
- A sophisticated and dependable spring performer
- Leaves are as attractive as flowers
- Very long-lived
- Needs a slightly acid soil to be completely happy
- Can look a little tatty in deepest winter
- Slow growing and never invasive
Every spring garden should have wallflowers, but the usual biennial ones can be a bit of a faff ( bare-root planting, lifting after flowering ..), which is why this perennial one is such a dream. Flowering from late winter (the clues in the name!) this rather special cultivar has the familiar wallflower scent but just keeps on flowering month after month, and year after year! The flowers change hues as they age from burnt orange through to deep purple, giving a colourful mottled effect. Happy in the ground or a pot, this one is definitely a keeper.
- Perennial, so no lifting required
- Gorgeous palette of colours in a single plant
- Familiar wallflower scent
- Won't appreciate an exposed site
- May get leggy over time, so prune after flowering
- May need replacing by cuttings (easy to take, but only for your own use as plant breeders rights in place) after a few years
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