Early spring 2025 review
Galanthus elwesii and Helleborus x hybridus flowers buds in the background
Believe it or not, the year’s end is fast approaching. Looking back at the gardening season is always a reason of joy, sprinkled with little disappointments for things that didn’t go as expected. We learn and move forward!
As I said in a previous early spring review (2022), keeping pictures-records of your garden can serve many purposes besides showing off on social media.
Use them to: compare the emergence of species over the years, decide planting/transplanting locations for various species, understand which of the species are the most resilient and useful to add/propagate more for an early spring show. Every June, I gather all snowdrops capsules and carefully sow the seeds in pots or directly in the garden.
Pictures taken in the spring of 2025, show a very late start of the season, with the snow lingering late into March in parts of Ontario. In this context, all very early bloomers are always a blessing for our winter frozen souls.
Just a few images from March 2025, to better illustrate what species you should grow for early ‘signs of life’ and flowers in a similar climate. The first red shoots of various Paeonia peeking through the ground are equally valuable for me like the blooming snowdrops (Galanthus), Crocuses, winter aconites (Eranthis) and Iris reticulata (‘Katharine Hodgkin’ remains the more reliable). And what’s the very fresh looking rosette right from under the snow? A Capnoides sempervirens 😊
Perennial cold hardy Adonis species are a big bonus. The first Adonis amurensis raised from seeds has timidly bloomed this spring, keeping company to Adonis ramosa. If you manage to add them in your garden do not hesitate; it is worth waiting for them to grow up. The same goes for the tiny Cyclamen coum.
*This is still an excellent time to sow various species for cold/moist stratification, keep the pots in the house a bit and then bury them under the snow!
My latest sowings: Viola rostrata (in order to have more seeds we need more plants!) and Clematis alpina ssp. sibirica (wild collected seeds are precious).
