The sun has been shining today, the official first day of Spring, after a week of rain and even hailstorms, so it seems a good time to share a snapshot of the plants we are enjoying in Dalston Curve Garden right now.
Today is St David’s Day, a day of national celebration for Wales, and as Daffodils are the Welsh national flower, first on our list is Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’. This is the earliest of the Daffodils that emerge here and this year they’ve been flowering since the beginning of February. We aim to have Daffodil varieties in flower one after the other, right through to the end of April, planted in the ground and in tins and containers.
Our tins of yellow Daffodils look good next to purple Crocus. As well as planting them in containers, we grow Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ under trees, and in our ‘Bee Bed’. We love the way Crocus open their ‘faces’ when the sun is shining, but as we’ve had so many overcast days of late, sadly they’ve remained more closed than open this year!
Several years ago we planted a tiny clump of Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) and have been happy to see them spread more and more ever since. Although the pretty little flowers are not scented like those of Sweet Violet, they are attractive to bees and as their leaves are evergreen, Dog Violets do a good job of covering bare ground all year round.
The Hellebores have started to clump up nicely in our ‘woodland’ bed. Lovely as they are, their downward facing ‘sulky’ flowers are best appreciated from a low crouching position. Alongside them, we are enjoying the spotty leaves of Pulmonaria (Lungwort) Their strange bi-coloured, pink & purple flowers are a good source of nectar for any Bumble or Solitary Bees emerging from hibernation on warm days in early Spring, when there are not many other flowers available.
Although Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) can take over if not kept in check, it is another Spring flowering plant that’s good for several bee species and other pollinators, so we are happy to make it welcome in some parts of the Garden. Bees are also supported by the unusual dusky pink Primroses that were donated to us last year from a garden in Wales and are settling happily in their new Hackney home.
With so many beautiful flowering bulbs and plants emerging after winter, this really is an uplifting time in the Garden. Many thanks to our hard-working team of volunteers who planted hundreds of bulbs last Autumn that are now bringing so much joy to Dalston in early Spring.
All photos by Sandra Keating and copyright Dalston Eastern Curve Garden