Tidying up

Tuesday's weather was just what I had been waiting for in order to spend a bit of time tidying our front flower bed. 

The bulbs that I planted last autumn were coming up but some were hidden behind what remained of last year's perennial growth. I hadn't wanted to cut this back too early on the grounds that the top growth was likely to give a bit of protection against frosts but I couldn't really leave this any longer unless I wanted to hide the bulbs. There were also lots of dry leaves to clear away that had blown into our corner over autumn and winter.

Happily there were signs that quite a lot of the perennials planted last year were still alive but the jury is still out on some plants.

The bulbs are springing up with the crocuses being the first to flower. I planted a bag of mixed and it seems that all the colours featured on the photograph have made an appearance. Hopefully these will multiply to gradually put on a better show each year - that is if I can avoid digging them up when they die down leaving no trace. I may even add some more this year.

Along with the crocuses, I planted several varieties of miniature daffodils and species tulips which are shooting up, but as yet are not showing any signs of flowering. 

I also planted some Kathleen Hodgkins irises which are only just showing the tips of shoots. I was disappointed that they seemed to be so slow, but looking back at the photographs I took when I first saw them at Dunham Massey, it seems that my memory was playing tricks as our visit there was in early March so I guess they still have time to perform!

Now I'm looking forward to my first sight of the rest of the flowers although what appeared to be masses of bulbs when I planted them now seems nothing like enough!