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Plant Pictures - Spring [navbars/gallery.htm] I change the pictures and caption at the top of the home page every month - they're mostly taken in my garden or near where I live. Here's an archive of those pictures. They're all taken by myself with digital cameras - various types. Plants pictures to buy Spring - Humulus lupulus "Aureus" is a yellow hop that will climb vigorously throughout the season making a good  plant to grow over and through other plants, in this case Ceanothus, the blue-flowered shrub in the picture of which there are many species and varieties available. Humulus lupulus aurea to buy Spring - Primroses, Primula vulgaris one of the first and most welcome of the bringers of spring. Now available in a number of colours, but none meet the grace and beauty of the pale yellow of the native species. Sow some seed this year in trays and plant them in the autumn to reap the rewards next year. Primroses to buy Spring - Horse chestnut bud opening. These large sticky buds open up to several vivid green leaves and a panicle of white flowers that give the plant the name meaning "candle tree" in some parts of Germany as it looks like an oversized Christmas tree adorned with candles when they are all out. I love these buds and what springs from them, it's the very essence of spring time. Spring - Forsythia - Widely planted and covered in flowers the same time as daffodils. It's easy to see them as a bit "common", but look again and they are really beautiful and exuberant - the floral equivalent of a Labrador puppy. Forsythia to buy Spring - A single Hyacinth flower as represented by my scanner. Hyacinths are one of my favourite spring flowers, the scent is unmatched and almost miraculous after the winter gloom, but the panicles of flowers can be a bit much, I love the way this simplifies it. Hyacinths to buy Spring - Blue pansies in the container on my doorstep, they've spent the winter looking bedraggled, but just a few days of warmer and sunnier weather and spring arrives. These cheer me up every time I see them, who can resist such a pretty smiling face? Pansies to buy Spring - Forget-me-not after the spring rain. A medieval knight was walking with his lady alongside a river bank when he slipped and fell in, as he disappeared beneath the water weighed down by his armour, he grabbed some riverbank flowers and holding them out to her cried "forget me not", hence the name. Forget-me-not to buy Spring - Plum blossom in my back garden. This is a Victoria Plum and is always one of the earliest trees / shrubs to flower in the spring and looks magical against all the bare twigs at the time. It also worries me in case there's a frost which kills the flowers, it makes the difference between 6 plums or 60lbs of plums - looking good this year. Plums to buy Spring - Rhododendron - in a container. I suspect these are amongst the most mis-planted shrubs of all. They need acid soil, which isn't that common in most gardens. They will grow in ordinary soil, but slowly, poorly and without flowering. Put them in a large container with acidic compost and the results are spectacular. Rhododendrons to buy Spring - Grass starting to grow again - an often ignored part of the spring burst of growth is of our lawns and grassed areas coming back to life again. Winter often takes quite a toll on lawns with bare patches and wear and tear not being replenished by new growth. Come warmer temperatures and longer days however and our "Green and Pleasant land" starts in earnest. Buy turf online Spring - Daffodils / Narcissi - "A man who is tired of Narcissi is tired of life" (I think that's how it goes?) The botanical name is Narcissus and so all daffodils are Narcissi. A daffodil is an artificial category dreamt up by gardeners for narcissi that have long trumpets - and usually that are wholly or mainly yellow in colour. Who can't fall in love with narcissi? one autumn I bought several named varieties and a mixed-bag, these are part of what came up by Mid April. Daffodils to buy  Narcissus to buy Spring - Blue bells - Hyacinthoides non-scripta  - in English woodland. Bluebells to buy Spring - Blue bells - Hyacinthoides non-scripta  - in English woodland. Spring - Clematis alpina Most of the time the petals are pointed forwards at about 45 degrees, when the sun comes out on a warm spring day though, they fold back to make the flower more open for the approach of pollinating insects. Clematis to buy Spring - Lilac - Syringa vulgaris One of the garden's super exuberant spring displays, lilacs are always covered in masses of flowers. Lilac to buy Spring - Japanese quince, Chaenomeles japonica. Sometimes just referred to as "japonica" which always irritates me because it's just the species name, there are many  other "japonicas". A good wall shrub available in a variety of cultivars with flower colour from white through pinks to deep red. Chaenomeles to buy Spring - Hyacinths - Hyacinthus orientalis. I am building up quite a display of hyacinths in the garden though none were bought for planting directly in the soil. They were all bought in August or September to be planted in containers to be forced for early spring, just after Christmas. Hyacinths to Buy Plants pictures to buy