What’s looking good at the moment

The daffodils are starting to flower on mass, not just the one or two confused ones I saw flowering in January. There is something incredibly cheerful about a mass of yellow flowers marching across the grass. I’m lucky enough to live in York and it is a sea of yellow narcissus in spring, covering the grassy slopes below the city walls. Whichever part of the city I’m travelling between I see a mass of spring flowers and I love it. Let’s hope that there isn’t a hard frost or any snow, like we had at the end of March last year to shorten the flowering season.

Crocuses too are springing up in clumps and intertwining with the last of the snowdrops, I’m not sure who planted them but there are a couple of clumps that appeared around five years ago and keep reappearing every year in the grass verge just outside of my house. Looking out for them every year is a highlight that says, yay spring is here.

Many hellebores are still going strong, particularly the pink and purple varieties. I planted a few new hellebores in my garden on New Year’s Day, Helleborus x hybridus ‘Pretty Ellen Purple’. There is now one solitary purple flower just outside of the front door, I’m hoping they’ll become happily ensconced in the garden, producing many more flowers next winter. Peeking out from amongst the hellebores are the delicate lemon primroses, another shade loving garden staple that will light up a dull space.

Advice

The nights are getting lighter and I’m really looking forward to longer days in the garden, whether having more time to potter about or sit out in the evenings. My own garden is undergoing a revamp at the moment and could definitely benefit from more time being spent in it. A few activities I’ll  be undertaking this month will include:

• Sowing a few hardy annuals: I haven’t managed to sowing any sweet peas yet, so this will definitely be on my list. I love picking a few bunches for the house each summer, knowing that as I snip a few flowers off I’m encouraging new growth and more flowers. I’ll also be sowing a few fluffy white umbels of Ammi majus or maybe Orlaya grandiflora, perhaps both I can never choose between them. Along with a few cosmos, to create a few home grown bouquets for the kitchen table.
• Irises love my garden and have been happily spreading through the borders, so I’ll be lifting and dividing the larger clumps. A few to add to the front garden and a few for friends. Many summer flowering perennials are happy to be divided during spring including agapanthus, Hemerocallis (daylilies), salvias and euphorbias. These are all plants that I grow in my garden or have added to client’s gardens but the list of perennials that can be divided is long. A quick way of creating new plants to fill in the gaps or share or swap with friends.
• Renovate overgrown climbers: By now the new growth should be sprouting, making it easier to see  which branches are dead and can therefore be removed and which ones this year’s flowers will be coming from. They can then be trained and tied in to the fence or wall you want them to grow along. Something I do with one of the clematis in my garden, I know if I don’t it will be off up the apple tree and over the fence. I think the neighbours quite like the purple flowers but I’m also sure they want to be able to walk down their path without it being blocked.
• Planting new perennials: This can depend on where you live, a small sheltered courtyard garden in London that is surrounded by other buildings will be fine for planting new perennials in March. Personally I’m waiting a little longer, after last year when we had a late cold snap followed by a lot of rain. Some plants struggled with the weather, either to get growing or to grow at all. Many of the gardens on my list to plant are on hillsides, the edge of the moors or are exposed to high winds, making it worth the wait.

Trends

Pollinator Planting has been in the top ten trends for the past few years and continues to be a top priority for many gardeners in 2024. More and more clients are also mentioning wanting to add flowers that the bees will love, in their gardens. Bees prefer single variety flowers, easier to reach the pollen. It helps too to have a few purple or blue flowering plants in the garden, bees will happily feed from any colour flower but they see at the ultra-violet end of the spectrum, so they will spot these first. I like to think of them as landing lights, if they’re guided in by a few  Aster × frikartii ‘Mönch’ or Verbena bonarensis the bees can then fly onto a bright white daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) or a deep red Astrantia major ‘Claret’. Bees aren’t the only pollinators but the idea is broadly similar for other insects, butterflies are equally drawn to a perennial such as Verbena bonariensis or perhaps an umbel with plenty of space to land on.

Container Gardens are becoming increasingly popular, with many more people renting it’s the ideal way of taking the garden with you when you move. There are several other reasons why using containers makes sense. Courtyard areas are often solid concrete or at the minimum there is a lot of paving that if taken up would have to be barrowed through the house. By bringing containers in it can be a more cost effective and quicker way of adding colour to the garden. The vast array of options available makes it possible to use large troughs interspersed with storage boxes that double as seating.

If the only outdoor space is a balcony containers will help create a little green oasis to enjoy on a Summer’s evening. (A note of caution, with balconies and roof gardens how much weight the planters add, particularly when the soil is wet and the plants go needs to be thought about so that they don’t affect the structure of the balcony. Using something like GRP (glass reinforced plastic) rather than ceramic planters helps but if in doubt ask for professional help.) If you’re anything like me adding a container or two increases the more space for plants when the borders are overflowing. By choosing the same material or colour in planters they can also tie a scheme together, perhaps linking with the furniture, tying in with the house or a favourite flower colour. Or just a chance to play around and change it up with the seasons.

What I’m working on

This month I’ve been researching medieval manor houses, in particular stained glass and Cistercian monks. The garden looks out over the fields and would have originally looked out a medieval manor house surrounded by a moat until the dissolution of the monasteries. The sense of place or Genius loci and the spirituality of the place are important considerations to the client. So I’ve been looking at patterns, both in stained glass and in the ruins of the stone work at places like Fountains Abbey and Mount Grace Priory.

I have to admit I’ve never looked that closely at the floors at Fountains Abbey but the patterns are amazing and have sparked ideas for the layout of the garden. Looking into the types of plants that the monks grew will help inform the planting design for the garden, adding to that sense of place. I’ve particularly been looking at herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. Many of the herbs are the same ones we all love to grow, rosemary, sage and bay. There are then the more usual herbs that are around today but aren’t chosen quite so often. For example Winter Savory, dill, chamomile and Betony, part of the mint family that was used as a medicinal herb.

Another project has quite a different feel, having a modern party vibe. Plenty of space for entertaining friends including space for beer and barbecuing. Along with space to bring a screen outside when the weather allows, their very own movie nights. The garden is clearly split into two areas due to the layout of the buildings. In the centre the design is clean and modern with planting pockets while the end of the garden has a more informal, wildflower meadow area. In one corner is a rustic covered area that will allow time to be enjoyed outdoors even if it is raining.

Do you have favourite March plants or are planning a new project? Feel free to add your favourite plants, suggestions or questions in the comments. I would love to hear from you.