Failsafe no-maintenance spring flowers

Even when it's super hot

I seemed to have misplaced the spring.

Here is East Anglia, we’ve had a brief suggestion of springtime, around March. But now it appears to be summer.

I really like the seasons. I’m not keen on this development.

Spring flowers are now a lottery.

2020 was memorably a lovely rain free spring. I grew the biggest and best crop of Ranunculus ever. Ranunculus and anemones have frankly been quite lacklustre since. These plants are cold lovers, right down to -8 without protection.

Ranunculus in 2020

2022 was a bumper narcissus year. Lovely long spring but since then, blink and you might miss them. Ditto tulips. It’s the heat that brings them on super fast. This year mine are all done, including the peasants eye which in the past, usually, late into May.

Narcissus Bounty

I keep having to remind myself that it’s still only just May, it isn’t June yet!

The weather feels like I’ve lost a month.

I don’t think we’ll have a frost now but I don’t want to take any chances with precious half hardy annuals yet. I have read flower grower after flower grower saying their tunnel plants are overheating. That they already are out of spring flowers.

It’s much too soon for over wintered reliable hardy annuals or even biennials to flower. Those are only just beginning.

So we have ourselves a little gap.

But I don’t.

You can well accuse me of being smug but I am in possession of a perfect set of plants to cut from mid April to mid May and cover this issue, should it arise.

And what’s best of all, over the last year, they have needed no maintenance, no water, no feed, no attention and no money spent.