A shapely example of one of my favourite shrubs Japanese Quince. This looks like the cultivar Chaenomeles x superba 'Crimson and Gold'. Seen here as standalone specimen but a good hedging plant as well. The fruits are sometimes used to make jams and jellies. 

 Good thing about plants- if they aren't growing where you want them you can dig them up in spring or autumn and plant them where you do. This clump of Stinking Iris (Iris foetidissima) has been developing over the past few years among some not very productive Raspberry canes on the allotment. 

 I used to mulch the patch with pine needles and Stinking Iris grows under the Corsican Pine I gathered them from. No doubt some berries arrived in the mulch. By now the clump was large enough to divide into four sturdy specimens when I took it home.

 The dry valleys of the Pegsdon Hills.

 

 A glimpse of the English countryside from a London-bound train.

 Shipton Bulbs dispatch bare root plants in spring and autumn. Bulbs go out in autumn with a selection 'in the green' in spring. This time round I ordered 5 of: Greater Stitchwort, Purple Loosestrife, Dames Violet, Solomon's Seal and a couple of Stinking Iris. All very hardy, not long out of the ground and ready to go back in.

 Sometimes called Lords-and-Ladies or Cuckoo Pint our native Arum maculatum is actually a bulbous plant. Shipton sell it in the autumn but last week I had to clear quite a few from a border we are rejuvenating at the music school. Accordingly I forked them out 'in the green' so to speak and replanted them in my garden.

 I think the foliage will wilt and die back with that kind of treatment but as long as the bulb survives they may recover next year. 

 Cherry Plum is in blossom as noted in my last entry but not a lot else is flowering as yet. Celandines and Dog Violets are appearing here and there. And the green shoots of Dog's Mercury are sprouting en masse in the woods. The cold winter has meant that spring flowers are not appearing unseasonably early which has often been the case in recent times. 

 But it's coming, case in point Spurge Laurel as seen above. Daphne laureola is a shrub of open woodlands and hedgerows on chalky soil. Actually it's not a Spurge or a Laurel but resembles both so Spurge Laurel is an apt description. 

 Today is the Spring Equinox, sometimes called the Vernal Equinox. There's not much in flower in the English countryside as yet after the cold winter we've had. But the bright white blossom of Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) is flowering in the hedgerows drawing hungry bumblebees from hibernation. Soon to be followed by the equally bright blossom of Blackthorn and Hawthorn.

 Into the blue again. March is having some mild and sunny days (and some cold, grey ones too). I hopped on a bus from Hitchin to Lilley, walked across Lilley Hoo to the Pegsden Hills then past Knocking Hoe down to Pirton where I got a bus back into town. The air was fresh, uplifting.

 Wood chip is nutrition for plants. Every year I prune a couple of enormous Fig trees. My father planted them a few decades ago and they grow very quickly. I put the branches through the shredder and mulch the Rhubarb patch on the allotment. The white wood quickly mellows to mottled brown.

 Well, this is the sort of thing I find thrilling. Millions wouldn't but I do. I planted Ramsons aka Wild Garlic (Allium ursinum) in this old porcelain planter on the patio. I planted them in the form of bulbs several years ago and they have begun to propogate themselves on the ground around the planter. The emerging leaves are clearly visible, so too around another planter further down the garden.

 In the wild Ramsons carpet damp shady areas particularly on the westerly side of Britain. They spread by bulbils, offsets and seeds but this is the first year they have appeared around the planters. Why? Some set of atmospheric conditions they have found favourable? Or perhaps seeds and/or bulbils have matured by now into bulbs? 

 Two early Narcissi. The first is 'Tête-à-Tête', the second is 'February Gold'. In fact neither flowered till March this year due to the the cold spell. They look rather similar as both have the reflexed petals of N. cyclamineus in the genes. 'Gold' is a cross with N. pseudonarcissus and quite tall like our Wild Daffodil. The ancestry of 'Tête' is obscure possibly x tazetta and it's daintier than 'Gold'.

 Postscript  Since writing this entry I have read that 'Tête-à-Tête' was cultivated by a British breeder Alec Grey circa 1949. It is said to be allotriploid i.e. contains two genomes of one species and one genome from another. In this case a cross between N. cyclamineus and N. 'Cyclataz' which is itself a cross between N. cyclamineus and N. 'Grand Soleil d'Or'. That last is believed to be an archaic cultivar of N. tazetta but its origins are unknown. 

Sedum, sometimes called Stonecrop.

 

 The meadow at the music school is a mass of Ox-Eye Daisies and Knapweeds in high summer. In spring we shear the dried out stalks to the ground where the new growth is already emerging. I used a petrol brush cutter rather than a scythe for that but the traditional pitchfork still comes in useful.

 Spot the Brimstone basking in the sun.

 The bees at Benslow were buzzing in the spring sunshine. Not in great numbers but a steady coming and going. I began seeing the occasional bumblebee about a week ago and today was warm enough for honey bees to emerge from their hives. Their flight muscles need temperatures above 10 °C and today was several degrees warmer than that. I also saw my first butterfly of the year- the yellow flutter of a Brimstone.

 The flowering of Daffodils and Snowdrops is overlapping this year. I think Snowdrops were a little late to flower during the cold spell and the early Daffs are coming on strong in the spring sunshine.

 

 "Tommies" (Crocus tommasinianus) are usually a feature of February's round up of plants in flower along with Snowdrops and Winter Aconites. I must have planted hundreds in my garden in London over the years.

 The flowering has been brief this year, wilting in the hard frosts. Those in pots and containers in sheltered spots seem to have fared a little better than naturalised in grass and borders. But they're tough and will be back next year.

 Spring has sprung and bumblebees are starting to emerge. These are queens foraging for nectar before looking for nest sites. I formed the impression that last year was a bad one for bumblebees, particularly during the cold, damp spring. Research published recently by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust confirms that so here's hoping for more clement conditions in the weeks ahead.

 Walking through the pine plantation on the north side of Wain Wood. I experienced the sensation of complete calm. Not a breath of wind; the very air was silent and still. Despite the chill I could feel the warmth of the spring sun.