The spring is sprung

The spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where de birdies is? - well there's no lack of birds in the garden, but the lawn is certainly growing and will need cutting soon, and spring is definitely sprung.  Although the weather has been rather up and down, when we've had sunny days there has been gentle warmth in the sunshine, and the wildlife is responding accordingly: the first bees, the first butterfly today (a brimstone, probably, although I was too far away to tell), the sudden appearance of clouds of little flies, the birds starting to collect nesting materials.  A male blackbird was singing quietly by the drive yesterday, and today there were two male bullfinches pecking at the buds on the plum tree (I'm afraid I chased them off).

Crocus angustifolius

Self-sown pulmonaria

The spring flowers are also coming thick and fast.  The snowdrops are past their best, but the hellebores are still in full swing, the crocuses are out (mostly 'Whitewell Purple', 'Cream Beauty' and 'Blue Pearl' but also a group of large purple ones near the dogwood which I'm sure I didn't plant) and the daffodils are just about to open (some of the small ones are already out).  There's also a pot of Crocus angustifolius, bright golden-yellow and lovely in the sunshine. The pulmonaria by the wall is doing very well, but I'm disappointed that the little daffodil 'Silver Chimes' which should be nearby and which I really enjoyed last year hasn't appeared at all.  There are still late winter jobs to be done: the apple tree is only half-pruned and I need to finish off pruning the buddleja, not to mention tying in the broad beans (not yet done despite my good intentions last week) and sowing the next batch.  Then there are all the seeds to be sown in the greenhouse - and first I'll need to find some space in there for them.  Let's not mention all the weeding that hasn't been done!

There hasn't been much to cut for indoor display yet, so a couple of bunches of supermarket tulips have been brightening things up.  I also managed a very little vase of sweet violets.  These grow down at the bottom of the garden, but I've been thinking about digging them out; I had imagined picking posies of scented violets for the house but never seemed to find enough, and for most of the year they're just green leaves.  In fact I had reprieved them precisely for the leaves, because although they're fairly unremarkable they do provide a nice fresh green even when other plants are flagging in summer.  However the other day I noticed that the plants were in bloom, and although the flowers are tiny they produced a surprising amount of perfume when brought inside; so maybe I'll keep them a little longer.

Some cheerful tulips

In between the nice sunny days there has been quite a bit of rain and some wind, and there have been cold days (but little actual frost).  One day we had rain, sleet and hail.  Still, it's only early March and it's par for the course at this time of year.  But there's a real feeling that warmer days aren't too far off even if there are still a few chilly spells ahead.