March is a strange month – one foot in winter and one foot in spring.
A sudden coat of snow
If the sun shines you can really feel the warmth. Turning to face the sun, you can feel the rays caressing your cheek like a gentle blessing. Spring blossom cascades over hedgerows, brightening twigs that have long looked drab over the winter months.
White blossom brightens the hedgerows
‘Take note of the courageous daffodils that emerge no matter what the weather throws at them. Now is the time to push our own heads up and out of the soil in the knowledge that we are deeply rooted. It’s time to dare to share our calling with the world, to take risks and journey forth.’ (Louise Press)
Brave daffodils emerge from winter’s hard soil
Plants, bushes and trees put forth tentative shoots and blossom buds – but then, as one writer has said, – ‘March responds carelessly, brutishly, showering them one day in snow, the next in rain, then in warm, glowing, impossibly gorgeous sunshine, then in snow again.’
A figure trudges through a sudden fall of snow
But perhaps the animal kingdom has more faith – March sees the birds beginning to nest.
Birds build intricate nests for raising their broods
Early lambs will be let out into the open.
Lambs explore the great outdoors
Truly, the beginning of spring is gentle and violent; chilly and balmy; joyous and fiercesome. Truly a month of contrasts.
February sees the first real signs of spring as it emerges from hibernation.
February sees the first real signs of spring beginning to emerge. Gardens and wayside verges that have looked bleak, bare and uninspiring are gradually being disturbed by new, tender shoots pushing up through the packed soil and winter debris.
Now is the time to look out for nectar-rich plants, whose gift is to provide food and nourishment for the insects at the bottom of the food chain – those which in turn sustain birds, bats and hedgehogs.
Look out for the following plants; admire their unassuming beauty and value their contribution to the amazing way in which wildlife is sustained.
The primrose is often one of the earliest flowers to emerge, its shy, pale yellow flowers peeping out from spear-shaped leaves. Watch for early bumble bees seeking out this delicate flower…
Shy primroses peep forth as daylight beckons.
If one crocus flower springs up you can be sure that more will follow… an early-flowering bulb and a rich source of nectar. Planted close to fruit trees they will encourage insects to come close and pollinate fruit blossom when that makes its glorious appearance a little later in the spring.
Crocus spring up in all sorts of places
The grape hyacinth is frequently seen now. It seems to pop up almost anywhere in a garden once it is established, its bright blue spikes of numerous tiny blue flowers making it look like a miniature bunch of grapes. A welcome source of nectar for foraging insects!
Grape hyacinths bring a splash of startling blue
Lungwort, or pulmonaria officinalis, displays pretty, pollen-heavy flowers that are irresistible to insects. Traditionally used as a remedy to help colds, coughs and asthma, the high mucilage content also helped treat a variety of chest conditions. (Warning: never use plants medicinally to treat ailments unsupervised.) Sight and smell, however, may be freely enjoyed!
The unusual markings of lungwort conceal it’s pretty flowers
Peeping shyly through winter overgrowth you might spy the hellebore, or Christmas Rose. It’s also known as the Lenten Rose since it often doesn’t come into flower until the Lenten season. It is welcomed by bumble bees but less so by deer and rabbits for whom its leaves are poisonous. One writer has described its flowers thus: ‘their finely modelled bowls indulge in all manner of strange freakings, frecklings, cloudings, stripings and blotching… every individual flower a fantasia of its own caprice.’ In other words, every flower is different!
‘A fantasia of its own caprice’
But look for yourself and simply enjoy the rich array of unsung beauties in the early spring garden.
In the northern hemisphere many people have found that the long drawn out winter has seemed endless. The 21st March brings the spring equinox, when the length of the daylight equals the length of the nightlight. There is a noticeable shift in the quality of the light, too.
A grey day hanging over from a long winter
The flat grey days of winter with occasional brilliant contrasting shafts of bright light when the sun does shine give way to a more intense sunlight with a real feeling of warmth.
Splashes of bright and dazzling sun at last
The wind, when it blows, can still be harsh; sleet showers can catch us unawares but more often than not the rain falls more gently, more softly. The birds are singing; their joyful songs can be heard more and more early in the morning, and they continue late into the evening.
Joyful scents, colours and textures of spring
Life is just bursting to get going again after the slack time of winter when all has seemed to be asleep. Out in the garden you can sense the change. One garden writer has said, ‘This is the real thing and by the end of March any sane person is in a state of intoxication, falling in love again with this strange world.’
A spring sky that makes the heart sing
And indeed it really is a time to get out into the open, to notice the changes the light and the weather undergo; to relish the scent of the spring air, the heady perfume from cut grass, pine resin, sudden floral outbursts from daffodils, hyacinths, violets and other wonderful spring flowers.
Another sign that spring has sprung…
‘There is no time like spring, when life’s alive in everything’
