Blooming NOW! March 2020

The necessary Covid-19 restrictions have put our lives on hold but they haven’t stopped stopped the songbirds singing. Neither have they stopped the plants growing, bursting into new life with the spring. Taking a walk around my allotment plots on the sunny days we’ve had of late, just LOOK what I saw … ki ni mo ri!

Tulips!

All of the tulips that are in flower at the moment are naturalised. One set, planted late in a trough, has a way to go before I see any blooms. It is a late season tulip anyway.

Tulips are native to the steppes and mountainous temperate regions stretching from southern Europe to central Asia.They have become naturalised in many places.

The name ‘tulip’ is thought to be derived from ‘Dulband’ a Persian word for turban, which the flower may have been thought to resemble. Tulips are believed to have been cultivated in Persia since the tenth century.

My Parrot tulips

There are some white ‘snowflake’ Leucojums in the picture too!

Tulips came to the attention of the West during the sixteenth century, when Western diplomats to the Ottoman court observed and brought back reports on them. They were rapidly introduced into Europe and became a frenzied commodity during ‘Tulip Mania’. Great fortunes were lost after speculators ploughed vast investments into tulip production and benefits ultimately failed to materialise. In February 1637, the extraordinarily inflated contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced and fashionable tulip collapsed dramatically.

Tulips were frequently depicted in paintings by the Dutch Masters, and have become associated with the Netherlands, which remains a major world producer.

Tulips are showy flowers of a wide variety of colours in spring. After flowering, they become dormant in the summer and leaves die back.

Breeding programmes have been very successful in bringing new hybrids and cultivars to the market. While tulips do best in temperate climates, new hybrids have been selected that make tulip growing possible in warmer regions like southern Africa. Cold-treated tulip bulbs are more tolerant of warmer conditions and are a better choice for containers.

Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae

Also known as the Wood Spurge or Mrs Robb’s Bonnet, this is just one of a very large, diverse genus of plants which typically contain a white milky sap. Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae is an evergreen perennial to 50cm in height, with rosettes of ovoid deep green leaves. Sprays of rounded yellow-green flowers arise from the leaf rosettes.

Clianthus puniceus

I’m pleased to say that this beautiful plant is thriving outside in London, with frost protection in winter. Please see my post dated 17 March for more information about Clianthus puniceus.

The Primulas

Primula ‘Miss Indigo’ (left, foreground) has wavy, indigo-coloured, double flowers that are fragrant too. It flowers in late winter or early spring.

Primula are a large genus of herbaceous or semi-evergreen perennials which form a basal rosette of simple course leaves. Flowers are salver-or bell-shaped, and may be solitary or carried in an umbel or in whorls on an erect stem.

By the way, the white flower in the background is Anemone numerosa ‘Blue Eyes’.

Primulas on my plot in a ‘woodland’ setting

The two primulas in the picture above are in flower now. Primula veris or common cowslip with small yellow flowers. Then there’s Primula acaulis with the pink and white flowers and yellow throat. Cowslip was used for ritual purposes by Celtic druids and was even known as St. Peter's herb or Petrella in the Middle Ages, when it was sought after by Florentine apothecaries.

Parts of the Primula plant have been used for centuries for culinary and healing purposes. In Spain today, the leaves are used in salads. In English cookery, the flowers are used to flavour country wines and vinegars. The flowers are added to salads or are also sugared as sweets. Cowslip juice is used to prepare a tansy for frying.

Mahonia aquifolium

Mahonia is an evergreen perennial shrub, native to western North America. Mahonia aquifolium is a compact variety of Mahonia (height 1m x width 1.5m) with leathery, spine-toothed, dark-green, pinnate leaves, that take on a reddish-purple tinge in winter. It grows well in most soil types including heavy clay, sand, moist (but well-drained) or dry soils. It grows in full sun and partial shade but will also tolerate full shade.

It is also called Oregon Grape, on account of the edible deep purple berries that follow the acid yellow clusters of flowers which burst open in late winter or early spring. The berries may be eaten raw, used to make jelly, and alcoholic drinks such as wine and brandy.

Hepatica

These are small, clump-forming perennials with 3 to 5-lobed, semi-evergreen leaves and anemone-like, pale violet flowers in early spring. They grow well in the shady environments of deciduous woodlands. Mine have been blooming since February actually. As it happens, I’m not exactly sure which species or cultivar this one is … It may be Hepatica transsilvania.

Leucojum vernum

Also called ‘snowflake’, Leucojum vernum is a native to Eurasia, and a close relative of Galanthus nivalis, the popular ‘snowdrop’. It is a bulbous perennial that grows to a height of 30cm. Erect stem arise from between glossy dark green leaves, each bearing 1 or 2 broadly bell-shaped, green-tipped white flowers to 2.5cm in width.

Camelia japonica ‘Erin Farmer’

This Camellia japonica has large blush orchid pink flowers which open to show golden anthers. Some flowers are almost white. The shrub has an open, upright growth habit.

Magnolia x loebneri ‘Leonard Messel’

Magnolia × loebneri is a hybrid of two Magnolia species, the Japanese Magnolia kobus and Magnolia stellata crossed by Garteninspektor Max Löbner of Pillnitz, Germany, shortly before World War I.

The selection, 'Leonard Messel' is a chance hybrid that was discovered in the gardens of Colonel Leonard Messel’s Nymans estate in Sussex. It is a late season deciduous magnolia which bears fragrant pink, goblet-shaped flowers, to 10cm in width, that become star-shaped as they open. The petals have pale shell pink upper surfaces and darker pink-purple lower ones. As with many deciduous magnolias, flowers appear before the foliage.

‘Leonard Messel’ is a hardy, compact, slow-growing, multi-stemmed small flowering tree or large shrub. It can attain a height of 8m and a width of 8m.

‘Leonard Messel’ grows well in moist, well-drained acidic soil in full sun or partial shade.

It’s just coming into bloom. I’ll post a picture when it is in full swing.

Prunus domestica

I was given this greengage tree so I have no idea which cultivar it is. I love the clusters of single white flowers with sparkly yellow anthers. I love the sweet, honey-flavoured fruit it produces in mid summer even more!

My final gem

It’s flowering cherry blossom season!