Signs of Spring for 2018

[maxi-model]

Those bloody Spanish bluebells are popping up all over the place, again. I does not seem to matter how well you thought you sifted the soil around the track bed and laid the permeable membrane there they are worming their way out and encroaching on the loading gauge limits. Heathers have been in full flower for some time, add a splash of colour. Max

 

[Paul M]

Just to put a damper on the excitement, apparently snow is on the forecast again this weekend

 

[casey jones snr]

Just to put a damper on the excitement, apparently snow is on the forecast again this weekend

It depends on which part of the country. Forecast for my area is cold and dull.

 

[stockers]

Wet down this way Casey.

 

[Paul M]

North Herts/Cambridge, I'm hoping I'm wrong or it changes!

 

[Gavin Sowry]

Daffodil Express approaching Taita Gorge Railway.

 

[trammayo]

Round the back of the house, it's the Sound of Spring 2018. Ripples in the bog water and a continuous croaking. Even our Tomas (the cat) had to jump the stream and leap from clump of read to another to gain a front row vantage point.

Primroses have started to blossom - only four months late!

 

[dunnyrail]

Those bloody Spanish bluebells are popping up all over the place, again. I does not seem to matter how well you thought you sifted the soil around the track bed and laid the permeable membrane there they are worming their way out and encroaching on the loading gauge limits. Heathers have been in full flower for some time, add a splash of colour. Max

Re your problems with the bluebells, I tend to find that dragging them out before they flower stops them in their tracks. Though there will always be a few to come through later which will need the same treatment. Which of these two are your problem Max?

The first two pics are an early one so I guess they may have been your issue. Every one of those flowers will be a tiny tiny bulb that is so difficult to get rid of. These are NOT blue bells though they may be described as such.

These are a true invasive Blue Bell from Europe. I do like them but would prefer the indiginous ones that are not quite in flower as yet. They are quite a large bulb and should be easily removed.

As for the rest of the Garden, these are in full flower just now. Celendine looked at as a weed but I like them. These are a Black Leafed variety though I have just introduced some green leafed ones that have taken root where I did not want them so they were moved and have settled in quite happily.

 

[tac foley]

I thought that aconite was a posh word for a religious hermit. Or is that Hermatite?

tac

 

[maxi-model]

Re your problems with the bluebells, I tend to find that dragging them out before they flower stops them in their tracks. Though there will always be a few to come through later which will need the same treatment. Which of these two are your problem Max?

Definitely the Spanish ones Jon. I drag 'em out as soon as there is enough to grip on to with me fingers. I haven't quite mastered the trick to always get the stems to come out intact right down to the bulb. But I never let them flower there. Yet still they come back year after year. Even the "bulblings" that I didn't spot/sift out when I did a major reconstruction a couple of years ago - Some are under a black permeable membrane and a layer of GRS concrete platform sections yet still they find a way to get through.

Ah well, just one of those joys of running a railroad in the garden. Max

 

[KentKeith]

Spring on the EG&SNNR has been and is already on its way out:



The daffodils have flowered and are on their way out although a couple of late-flowering varieties are still to flower, the magnolia is in flower whilst the rhododendron and azaleas are yet to flower.

 

[AustrianNG]

I have the usual crop of primroses here.