It seems so many people are in a hurry for it to be summer.
We have winter, a couple of months of spring like weather and then by March everyone wants it to be summer. And yet spring is such a lovely time of year as we witness the awakening and renewal of life.
I am fortunate enough to have greenhouses filled with amazing plants and encounter some truly magical moments with daily visitors of bees, frogs and hummingbirds. The heady scent of the hyacinths has finished and it鈥檚 been replaced by the sweet fragrance of the evergreen armandii. The Clematis armandii is a vigorous evergreen early flowering climber with long slender green leaves and star shaped fragrant pure white flowers that bloom from April to May. They are very easy to grow and will quickly fill an arbour or trellis.
Tulips are almost synonymous with Spring. With over 3,000 varieties they have definitely become very popular since the 鈥楾ulip Mania鈥� in Holland in the 16th century. One of my favourites is the award winning Princess Irene with its bright orange blossom with a purple flame and its sweet delicate fragrance. It made its debut in 1949, to honour the Dutch Princess. Another stunner this year was the 鈥楪udoshnik Double鈥�: it is one of the largest fully double bloom - resembling a peony with its four inch blooms, each petal forms swirls of lemon, raspberry and cerise.
A plant that is not so common and yet native to north America, is the Camassia esculenta (Indian or wild hyacinth). An interesting looking six petalled, star shaped flower that is a rich dark blue and grows 24-30鈥� tall. It naturalizes well in the garden, growing bigger and better every year and is repellent to deer and rabbit.
Another spring beauty is the daffodil. The show stopper Narcissus 鈥楧elnashaugh鈥� (16-18鈥�) is incredibly beautiful: each bloom is fully double, four inches across, and has creamy white petals surrounding a centre of ruffled apricot-pink. All narcissus are deer and rabbit resistant, attracts bees and butterflies, and most make excellent cut flowers.
Pansies and violas come in a wide range of colours. Their sunny faces can鈥檛 help but make you smile. An unusual one this spring is Viola 鈥橝ngel Tiger eye鈥� with its very unique golden yellow face with contrasting black veins.
