Yesterday when I was in the greenhouse I glanced out and was horrified to see that the Cypress by the gate was billowing with smoke; I thought someone must have set the tree on fire – but no as I looked at all the Cypresses they all looked as if smoke was blowing away from them. Then, of course, I realised that it wasn’t smoke but the fine dust-like pollen! I pity anyone with an allergy, the pollen is so fine it filled the air and there would be no way of avoiding inhaling the pollen. Stranger still was the fact that the day seemed to be completely still (after days of strong wind), yet the pollen didn’t stream off the trees constantly but in gusts.
Today was cloudy but not cold; ideal for taking some photographs showing the advance of spring.
Anemone coronaria ‘Sylphide’
More Anemones are opening their buds around the garden; I have sown the seed I saved last year; I want to be able to have them all around the garden and have enough to pick for a vase.
Anemone coronaria
Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’
The white Anemones remain with short stems; they are the most prolific Anemone in the garden but grow with consistently short stems – very annoying.
The formal beds looking towards the left hand border
You can see Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’ on the left and Euphorbia rigida peeping out between evergreen shrubs giving a shot of early colour all around the garden.
Euphorbia rigida
Rosemary
Rosemary has been flowering since the autumn but there seem to be even more flowers at the moment.
deep purple crocus
Hyacinth ‘Miss Saigon’
Hyacinths have been in the ground for several years now, I planted more last autumn too. They reliably return each year giving a punch of strong colour just when we need it most.
Hyacinth from a mixed pack of blues
Grevillia rosmarinifolia, another plant that has been flowering for most of February. This Grevillia is very hardy, I would like to try some of the other varieties but I rarely see them in nurseries here.
Top of drive border
You can tell it is winter by the patch of bright green in the field beyond the garden, it would be golden or brown in summer.
Lonicera fragrantissima
I think there are more blooms on the wonderful fragrant Lonicera than I’ve ever seen before. Maybe due in part to more rain last summer.
Lonicera fragrantissima
So much perfume from such tiny flowers.
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’
Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ are blooming all around the garden at the moment; I love them. This variety returns well each year but other varieties are less sure. After seeing the wonderful selection of varieties Chloris at The Blooming Garden has, I hope to try some different ones next year.
I hope the good gardening weather continues everywhere. Readers in the UK might like to contemplate that their temperatures this past week have been between 5 to 15 degrees higher than here in central Italy where last weekend we had a icy winds from the north. Even yesterday, which was a glorious day our temperatures didn’t rise above 18°C.
Creating my own garden of the Hesperides 
Your early spring garden looks beautiful Christina. My goodness, what vibrant colours those anemones are. I’ve never tried them from seed. My winter honeysuckles have been better than ever this year too. Today was much cooler here but still quite pleasant.
The Anenomes produce so many seeds, a few seed around the garden but not that many so I thought I should try to grow them.
Christina Pollen has also advanced here in Madrid this year. The anemone by seed come out very easy, I tell you from experience of a novice. I love your Anemone coronaria “Sylphide”, red coronary and “La Novia”: they are three jewels. The rigid Euphorbia I like very much. The Romero is beautiful. The dark purple crocus are divine. Jacinto “Miss Saigon” I love it. The Grevilia rosmarinifolia has wonderful flowers and foliage. The Lonicera fragrantissima has some flowers and I imagine that a perfume that I like a lot. The Iris reticulata “Harmony” I love and blooming all over the garden, what beauty. Christina I hope you continue the weather you have now, without cold winds, to be able to do gardening and enjoy your wonderful and beautiful garden in bloom. Have a fantastic weekend. Take care. 🙂 Greetings from Margarita.
Thank you Margarita, yes, I’m sure you’d love the perfume of the Lonicera, it has the best perfume of all the flowers I have in the garden.
We are dealing with pine pollen in this area. Our big spring chore is cleaning the pollen from all the porches. Your garden is looking good. I particularly like the anemones.
The Cypress pollen is do fine it drifts on the air but is invisible almost immediately.
Those anemones with their intense colours and dark hearts are jewels in your garden.
Yes, I love them, and often the flowering period is quite long.
Beautiful early spring. The anemones are just stunning!
Thank Tina. Everyone seems to love them as much as I do.
I love all that Euphorbia Christina. And I love Iris Harmony too. I have also got an Iris reticulata Katharine Hodgkin but was unimpressed as it doesn’t make an impact from a distance like the deep blue ones. Chloris has a lovely variety though. Our maximum temperature was 14°C this week, but it did feel warmer in the sun. Back to 5° tomorrow!
I did have Katharine Hodgkin but she hasn’t returned this year while Harmony is very reliable.
Your photos make me deeply regret that I didn’t even try planting anemones this year, especially as the rain and colder than normal temperatures probably would have been more to their liking than our usual late winter conditions.
The Anemones thrive in dry conditions so apart from maybe too much winter warmth, they would probably do very well for you.
I’m glad to see so many things greening up and growing, and flowering! I tried a few anemone in pots this fall and have them under lights but so far only foliage is showing. I have high hopes though.
In all honesty I probably shouldn’t. I planted 10 beautifully healthy corms and all but three rotted, so I’m not off to the best start, but sometimes gardening is 90% optimism.
I’ve never tried the Anemones in pots but I don’t see why they wouldn’t work. Did you soak them in water overnight before planting them? I usually do as that is what is recommended.
The garden looks beautiful and so full of colour. I have tried the Iris reticulata for some years now after seeing them in your posts. The first few years experiments disappeared and I decided to resort to pots to start them off. Even in pots they are disappointing so I have decided to just enjoy them through your posts! I think you have to listen to what your garden is telling you 🙂 Amelia
The Iris really don’t last very long. I planted half of those I bought directly in the garden and the rest in pots to enjoy inside. I’ve just planted out all the ones that were in pots so I hope they will reappear next year.
Tree pollen! That might be why my eyes are itching so much. There is a large Monterey Cyprus outside, I moved here at the end of April so not experienced the problem and 5hat might be the culprit. Your garden is looking lovely.
Thanks Ronnie. I don’t think you’d see the pollen it is so fine, as I say when I did see it, it just looked like smoke. I’m lucky that I’m not allergic to much – just the olives.
Euphorbia rigida has just gone on my list. What a useful plant for filling gaps. Not too high, nothing eats it and a useful foil for other coloured foliage or flowers. I may end up with a garden full!
It self seeds freely too! I do have a garden full, but if I change my mind it is very easy to edit.
Beautiful spring flowers blooming in your garden, Christina. I love that velvety red anemone – wow!
I love the richness of all the Anemones!
Your garden is looking wonderful Christina. I have not been successful with anemones but seeing yours makes me think I should try from seed.
These were from corms so far the seed hasn’t germinated. But it might have needed a cold stratification
I will try corms again. I think they would prefer the raised beds as my ground is so heavy.
I always soak mine overnight before planting.
Ok I definitely didn’t do that before. Thanks Christina
The ‘smoke’ from your cypresses must have been an amazing sight – what a phenomenon! What e a shapely shrub your L feagrantissima is – mine was was very scrubby and has been removed but I would like a replacement as the fragrance is more noticeable than the other loniceras. Love your anemones!
The Lonicera was planted about 12 years ago, it grows very slowly because it gets no summer irritation; you can shape them and keep them to the size you want without losing the flowers. I remember seeing quite tightly clipped L. Fragrantissima at Hatfield House.
It is some years since I bought mine, and at the time did not realise that it wasn’t a climbing honeysuckle – I had never come across the winter flowering ones before and by the time I did it was too late to keep it in shape. I am quite happy severely puning my other winter lonicera but I woukd like to replace the fragrantissima as it is so much more fragrant. Good to see yours and know that they can look attractive too
You could grow a small Clematis over it for summer interest.
Indeed yes, all I need now is to find a suitable spot as I moved a division of L standishii ‘Budapest’ to where the old one was evicted from!
Grevillea is a plant that grows in south Devon in seaside locations and I have seen the type you show in your picture in a Paignton seaside garden where it is very popular with winter bumblebees. A week or so ago we were in Hyde Park in London and found several yellow grevillae of a kind that I had not seen before.
This variety of Grevillea seems to be very tough; last year it survived minus 10 – 12 degrees C and it didn’t show any kind of damages at all.