Not knowing what will emerge from the garden borders in spring, if anything, I have decided to plant lots of early flowering bulbs, especially in the courtyard beds and in pots by the front door: The miniature iris, Reticulata histrioides ‘George’; erythroniums, E. dens canis and the lovely yellow E. pagoda as well as lots of fritillaria, including ‘uva vulpis’ which are very delicate in appearance, although their name sounds like the title of Swedish porn star! There are quite a lot of dog violets and hellebore already clustered under the bushes in the raised beds, both showing dark evergreen leaves, which I’m sure will flower early next year. I have also planted some of the miniature tulip, Tulipa pulchella ‘Persian pearl’ whose bright magenta flowers appear in early March and several clumps of the early snowdrop Galanthus elwessi, in the raised beds and on the bank. I would have liked to buy thousands of single snowdrop bulbs to plant on the bank and in the woods: but that will have to wait.
To get an earlier show, I have also put quite a few of the same bulbs into small terracotta pots and put them in the porch, along with a few geraniums. A creamy white jasmine, Jasminium grandiflorum also climbs around the window in the porch, as it is slightly tender and would not be able to withstand the winter here, even against a south-facing wall. I have also planted several varieties of lilies including the spectacularly scented Regale album and the ‘Madonna’ lily (Lilium candidum) in terracotta pots to put on the terrace, but I don’t know how they will like the damp. Indoors, I have a massive palm in the lounge and some ferns and orchids because it only gets the sun in the morning.