What are the first plants to flower in your garden in the Spring?

[ZuleikaJambiere]

My garden seems to take forever to get started and show me some colour in the spring and I've decided I need to add some more early flowering plants to cheer me up after winter.

At the moment I have some snowdrops, crocus, tete-a-tetes and grape hyacinth, but not much else of anything other than bare earth til my tulips come into flower and all my perennials start to grow.

So, what is bright and cheerful in February/March/April in your garden?Please inspire me

Because most trees are evergreen, and there's something in flower all the time in Australia, I look forward to two things. I love the wattle for its colour, and boronia for its peerless perfume. Along with the lemon-scented gum, boronia is the smell of Australia.

I always think that Forsythia heralds the Spring for me. Have you tried cyclamen or hebe? How about a flowering currant.

Hellebores are lovely.

We have a rhododendron which flowers very early, which always cheers the place up.
And I've just put in (well DH actually...) a load of daffodil bulbs that are meant to flower in February, but we'll see how that turns out...

And a couple of winter jasmine that are supposed to flower on their bare stems during winter - again, too soon to report on how much colour that actually adds!

I don't yet know what's in my garden, except that there are loads of crocuses, because we only moved in in July, but if there aren't any then I'm going to plant lots of little narcissi, the earliest-flowing I can find.

Pear blossom starts early, too - that's nice.

Julie - agree about forsythia I remember having to do a flower arrangement for primary school and sticking some forsythia in a bottle because it's all I could find!

Thanks for all the ideas, I have some hellebores actually (forgot about them) and they do really well - the ones I have are white, so maybe I should get pink ones for a bit of brightness.

I have a forsythia too, but it annoys me - I only like it for the couple of weeks that it is in flower. It's in a bad spot and basically shades most of my biggest flower bed, making it tricky to grow some of my summer favourites - I'm dithering between getting rid of it completely or growing a climber up it so at least it looks pretty for more of the year (I wondered about a late flowering clematis, viticella type, I think).

Cyclamen is a great tip, thank you. I love them but have only ever used them as house plants in the winter. I'll investigate those. And also thanks for the Hebe suggestion, I'd always thought that was a summer flowering shrub, I'm happy to have been corrected. And as I'm trying to grow more butterfly and bee friendly plants, that ticks two boxes.

Thank you, and any more ideas welcome

japonica
primroses
violets
chinodoxia
mahonia
hellebores
witchhazel

I love primroses, I've always thought of them as wild flowers, but they are on my list now. As are chindoxa and witch hazel. I think I have a small japonica but it's never flowered, so hopefully it will do soon. Thanks

I'm in the south of France and for me almond blossom signals the true start of spring. It smells divine, and covers the place in white.

Rosemary is often in bloom as early as february, and bergenias flower in march. Wallflowers start in early april here.

Other than that we have crocuses, little daffodils, cyclamen and violas, which flower all through winter but really get going in the early spring.

The earliest in our garden, and leaves are already coming up for next year, is a delightful pink flower, that self seeds and multiplies:

www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/130050/Ipheion-uniflorum-Charlotte-Bishop/Details

www.dejager.co.uk/_-Ipheion-Charlotte-Bishop---pack-of-10--_product/?pid=26164

For an interesting shrub, in yellow or bronze varieties, is:

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=368

Hellebores and Pulmonaria are easy, early, and come in various shades.

yes to hellebores
hellebores are my favourite flower
with snowdrops, magical for the early part of the year

iris reticulata are also nice

I'm trying early flowering clematis: jingle bells/wisley cream but so far they havent flowered

winter jasmine is lovely

Pulmonarias flower early and are bee magnets

Daphne, viburnum and winter box all flower early and have gorgeous scent

I've planted some Anemone blanda which are meant to flower from feb. We'll see if they do!

Daphne odorata. Not only beautiful early flowers but a wonderful scent too.

Thank you for the continued suggestions, even if I only get half of them my garden will be so much brighter next spring. I've bought some cyclamen this week so I've made a start already

Cyclamen corms can be expensive, but after they flower and set seed, the seed capsules will end up on thin, curly stems. They will then split open, and the sticky seeds inside can be scattered on the soil round about, and in a couple of years will be new plants. We have THOUSANDS that way!

I assume you know to plant cyclamen on the surface of the soil, and not bury them or they will rot.

please post a photo of the cyclamen ferguson

I didn't know that Ferguson, thanks for the tip. I planted them today, so it was perfect timing, I think (hope!) I've done it right.

On the self seeding, if I just leave them to do their own thing, no dead heading or anything, they should go forth and multiply? I hope so, I'm
looking forward to a garden-full in a few years

Bellis, pulmonaria, alium, scilla