I don鈥檛 know about you but a walkabout the garden is an exhilarating experience these days.

There are plants popping up through the leaf mulch!

One of the first to catch my eye was Anthriscus sylvestris 鈥楻avenswing.鈥� You might know it better by one of its common names: cow parsley or gypsy鈥檚 lace. I like the latter one best as it describes the plant鈥檚 lacy foliage perfectly and the 鈥済ypsy鈥� part lends a hint to its more exotic rosy-purple foliage colour.

鈥楻avenswing鈥� has been a feature in my island bed for a good 10 years or more now, so I really had to laugh at John when he finally twigged how nice 鈥楻avenswing鈥� looked against a backdrop of Polygonatum odoratum 鈥榁ariegatum鈥� (Solomon鈥檚 seal). In fact, up until about two years ago, he rather poo-pooed my 鈥楻avenswing.鈥�

And well-known Canadian garden writer, Larry Hodgson, agreed with John. He mentioned 鈥楻avenswing鈥� in one of his blogs titled What was I thinking when I planted that! Larry was lamenting its self-seeding tendencies and mentioned a few more plants he wished he had never planted in his garden, such as cypress spurge, Euphorbia cyparissias 鈥楩en鈥檚 Ruby鈥� and Macleaya cordata (plume poppy).

But Larry freely admitted his laissez-faire attitude towards gardening. Says it all in the name of his website: . With a common name of cow parsley hinting at its relationship to the carrot family, he should have known 鈥楻avenswing鈥� could be a seeding fool if left unchecked. And so easily remedied with a few clips of the scissors, which is what I do. But if I am late in this chore and a few seeds drop, an early spring cleanup catches any rogue 鈥楻avenswing鈥� seedlings before they have had a chance to send their tap root down too far.

(Sadly, Larry passed away in October 2022 but he left behind a wealth of information on his website and in his numerous books.)

Moving on鈥� I was tickled to see some primula leaves poking up through the leaf mulch. OK, I admit it will be a while before I see any colourful blooms like those on display outside the grocery stores right now. Those plants had the luxury of lounging the winter away in a greenhouse that was probably moderately heated while mine suffered through weeks of hard frost. The snow in January likely helped warm my plants up a bit but not enough to beat those blooming primulas.

But I can be patient. With so many of these Primula vulgaris plants scattered around my front garden, the March floral display is well worth the wait. And who knows? If we have a decently warm February there may be some early blooms this year.

Speaking of early blooms, from the kitchen windows I can see the top of our 10-foot Viburnum x bodnantense 鈥楧awn鈥� above the vine-covered pergola. It is a mass of flower buds all along its bare branches right now. So excited, as I love the heady fragrance of this multi-stemmed, early-flowering shrub. Unfortunately, many of the blooms are above our heads and the cedar hedge in behind blocks the prevailing breeze from distributing the fragrance around the garden. Picking up a waft of fragrance metres away from the rock daphne, which will bloom in a few weeks, is always uplifting as we hustle around the garden doing our spring chores.

Of course, I cannot forget to mention the hellebores. Really happy to see some buds on a few seedlings from my double white plant. Been fighting off John鈥檚 attempts to hoe the seedlings out as I am hoping for a unique new flower colour that I can perhaps introduce as 鈥楾he Duchess.鈥�

Don鈥檛 you love garden surprises?

Leslie Cox co-owns Growing Concern Cottage Garden in Black Creek. Her website is