What's flowering in my garden?

We have had some gloriously sunny days this week. The birds are nesting, the bees are buzzing and the flowers are blooming. All I want to do is spend time outside enjoying it all. Every time I hear a bee I’m chasing it to get a photo. I did manage to sit and watch a miner bee digging in the soil to make a nest, but it was up in the woods rather than in my garden. I posted a video of it on my Instagram page here.

First photo is of the Pulmonaria which has finally flowered. It is enjoying the warmer days.

Second photo is of the flowering currant. I did show it last week, but now the blossoms have opened.

Third photo is of the first Forget-Me-Nots just peeping out. A cheeky plant which will self seed everywhere if left to itself.

Next photo is of the tiny Quince bush, since we moved here it has taken me almost three years to discover what it was. An over enthusiastic pair of secateurs were much to blame, but it valiantly survived and produced fruit last autumn. I’m glad that it showed me what it was.

Fifth photo is of the Grape Hyacinths. A pretty little flower which does its own thing year after year.

Last photo goes to the first of this year’s Rock Roses (Montpellier cistus). I only just spotted this one. I grew them from seed; the first year they didn’t flower, but last year I had a wonderful display in various pastel colours. Great for pollinators.

I am now off to repaint the back porch while we have some sunny dry days.

Thank you for joining me for this #SixOnSaturday post. I hope that you enjoyed it. If you would like to know more about this hashtag, read founder Mr Propagator’s post here also find him on Twitter here.

Happy gardening

Rosie

Last week I chose to add a few links to others who take part in this meme. I enjoy reading the posts and learning all about plants and I thought you might like to see some of them too. I shall add a few more of last week’s posts here.

Dana gardens in Ireland
Sarah is from Birmingham, England.
The Rogue gardener lives in South-West Oregon
June is another British gardener.
Granny’s Garden (Mr P’s Mother-in-law)
Mr P’s post for this week
I think the plant fairies have been planting in Fred’s garden.
Eileen’s tiny Welsh garden
Fab tulips on Doc’s blog.

This week in Hampshire we’ve had lots of frosty mornings and some sunny afternoons. I was very excited to spot a Buff-tailed bumblebee enjoying the Mahonia. I had only recently discovered that this species is now staying active all year. British bees are one of my new addictions after reading Dancing With Bees by Brigit Strawbridge Howard. If this interests you, my review of her book can be read here. Brigit is also on Twitter and has a fantastic feed for nature enthusiasts. @B_Strawbridge

So first photo goes to this lovely Buff-tailed bumblebee which I chased all around my Mahonia to get the photo! With more bees likely to acclimatise to global warming and staying active all year a Mahonia is a good choice of winter flowering plant for them.

My second photo is Japonica (I think?) or spotted laurel also called Japanese laurel, Japanese aucuba or gold dust plant. This one’s berries are just starting to turn red.

Third spot this week goes to a favourite of mine this ‘old fashioned’ Marigold. I bought these seeds years ago after a day at Weald And Downland Living Museum. I’m not sure what variety they are but they keep growing each year. Last year I took a couple of cuttings; they are slow to take but I was very pleased to be able to plant them out. There’s even a new bud showing in January!

My fourth photo is of the first new bud on this cyclamen. I learnt something new when I was researching details about this plant. It is also called sow bread because the corms can look like small loaves and were thought to have been favoured by pigs in the wild.

Fifth place goes to what I hope is Viburnum Tinus also known as laurustinus, laurustine or laurestine. It comes from the Mediterranean area of Europe and North Africa and later it has tiny blue/black berries. This one’s only a small shrub, when we moved to this house it was struggling to thrive when surrounded by ground elder.

Lastly, another yellow flowered plant, I didn’t realise how many yellows were in my garden! I think it is a Primrose rather than a Polyanthus, but I have both, so I’m hedging my bets that this one is a Primrose.