It’s over a month to the first official day of Spring, but the very first daffodils and hyacinths and the first muscari are blooming, and in the space of the weekend 3 new little lambs appeared in the field next door.
True to Spring it was wildly windy and rainy so I took shelter in the greenhouse with my jars of flowers and grabbed some photos in the last of the daylight.
With the hyacinths there are some little pink geraniums. In the other jar there are a few little white blooms and foliage of nutmeg and apple scented pelargoniums, lavender sidonie, and 2 types of pink flowered tea tree (Leptospermum scoparium), a single and a double flowered version. These are both tough little shrubs growing on the edge of an ocean facing cliff which takes the brunt of the prevailing wind.
The scent is amazing. Lavender ‘Sidonie’ has a strange scent, which mixed with the scented pelargoniums and tea tree is intense and bracing. The hyacinths just smell lovely as you would expect.
Things are much hotter over at Rambling in the Garden where it is the height of Summer.
I feel a little guilty in taking the lavender, but not too much; Rosemary is in full bloom now and the honeybees seemed to be concentrating on that when they are out, and the bumble bees are still obsessed with the Phyllica.
Absent Gardener 
How lovely! I esp. admire the lavender ‘Sidonie’ and the leptospermum. It is nice to have the contrast of hemispheres this week, as the rest of us are laboring under heat wave conditions. 😉
The hyacinths are a bit chunky looking aren’t they? I’ve been thinking that I actually prefer the scent in the garden rather than in a vase as well.
I didn’t think they looked bad. However, I’ve noted that my supplier is now offering the old-fashioned, less densely-packed heirloom hyacinths, which might be something for you to watch out for. They are perfect for vase use and smell divine per usual.
Thanks, I will look for those, I haven’t seen them this year. These look much prettier now that I have put them with last week’s honeysuckle.
Those spring flowers look so refreshing to a Midwestern gardener suffering from too much heat! Just lovely.
🙂 It’s warming for me to see all the lovely summer flowers in IVOM. I’m wearing 2 wool sweaters and a jacket and scarf at the moment.
How refreshing to find spring flowers…from my favourite time of the year, posted in July!
The others are right it is lovely to see beautiful spring bulbs when we are suffering from days that are too hot. I planted leptospermum last autumn and they seem to be doing well coping with the drought and actually growing, it looks gorgeous in your vase.
I was thinking spring must be showing in another part of the world, and now to see it in your beautiful vase is such a delight…here the heat of summer is continuing. I am loving it!
I always get a momentary start when I see your posts, Cath, but it’s a great escape from the summer heat here! Your post this week has me asking, if we can both grow Leptospermum and Pelargoniums, why can’t I grow Hyacinths?!
I think you must have hotter, drier conditions Kris. That said, I have only just bought these bulbs this year and will have to try chilling them for next year. They may never bloom again. 🙂
How refreshing to see your spring bulbs, I imagine the scents are wonderful!
The scents are lovely, and they are lasting very well – I suppose because the house is so cool when we are at work.
Nutmeg and apple scented pelargoniums sound most intriguing, Cath, and is your leptospermum where Tea Tree oil comes from or is that something completely different? I like how you have used different shaped jars with the tall daffodils in the thin jar and the chunkier hycinths in the chunkier vase – looks really effective.
Nutmeg and Apple are lovely plants with small leaves and pretty little flowers. They form a tidy little mound, rather than sprawling all over the place as the bigger ones do.
The most common tea tree oil comes from an Australian tree I think which is farmed. The NZ tea trees which include Leptospermum mostly grow wild and are slightly different – although there is an oil from them it’s called Manuka oil
Yes, I though it was from a tree, that was why I was a bit puzzled – but now I am even more curious about the NZ variety!
Most NZ tea trees are big trees, but there are also prostrate versions which are used to breed ornamental shrubs like these and smaller trees.
Thanks for that info – good to learn
Ah, the sights of spring from your garden are wonderful, just as our spring bulb catalogues are arriving on our doorsteps for next year here in the Northern Hemisphere. I do love seeing the contrast in seasons across the world through other people’s garden blogs. Gorgeous hyacinths you have there.
Nutmeg and apple geranium did you say? Yum what is it called? I am a sucker for scented leaf geraniums. Your greenhouse arrangements look fresh and full of Spring, lovely
That sounds like a pudding doesn’t it ? It’s actually 2 different geraniums, the nutmeg has slightly grey leaves and the Apple has very bright green – yellow leaves.
Looks like spring is on its way, regardless of the calendar Cath – lovely to be reminded of cooler days while we are sweltering! The Leptospermum looks pretty. I shall be looking at spring bulbs later this evening, as I got a mail this morning for a special discount if I order my bulbs early! 🙂
It’s good ordering bulbs early. I’m always late and the favourites get sold out quite quickly here. I hope we have a bit more cold weather before Spring really begins in September.