At last! The recent sunshine and relative warmth is making plants put a spurt on in my garden and in most parts of the U.K., I imagine. Just a week ago I decided to resurrect the
dahlia tubers which I had overwintered in fleece bags of vermiculite and I put them in pots. Later they will go into bigger pots or into the garden border. Right now, all my big pots are taken up by spring bulbs. Everything is so late in growing that on a gardening programme yesterday it was mentioned that everything, even in the southern counties of England, was way behind. Certainly not one single daffodil of mine has opened yet but there are flower buds developing. I put the pots of dahlias out during the day when it is not freezing and bring them into my kitchen at night. I cannot risk leaving them outside overnight until I am sure that frosty nights are over. Hopefully, the dahlias will soon catch up and flower at their usual time of July until the first frosts. Below you will see how much difference one week of milder weather can make.
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| Dahlias pushing up shoots |
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| Dahlias and Alfie enjoying the sunshine |
I reckon that within a week the daffodils will be opening, weather permitting. The
winter-flowering violas which I planted October 2012 have done so well and have continued to thrive despite the harsh winter we have had. They are obviously much tougher than humans when exposed to sub-zero temperatures.
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| Daffodils and Winter-flowering violas |
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