What to plant now?

[Smiledwiththerisingsun]

What can I plant in my beds now that will look beautiful in Spring/ early summer?

You’re a bit early for annuals - towards the end of the month you could be sowing seeds indoors, but most shouldn’t be planted out until the last frost (April-May in the south). You could spend some time with a seed catalogue for inspiration and then get your orders in, though. I’ve gone for antirrhinums, lavatera, cosmos, phlox and nemesia this year.

Or you could pick out a bare root rose and plant that now - they can be planted in late winter if the ground isn’t frozen.

Another thought - you could buy spring bulbs like snowdrops, narcissi and crocuses in the green and plant them now for flowers sooner.

So it's not too late to plant bulbs?

You would need to buy spring bulbs “in the green” (in pots, already growing) for them to flower this year. More expensive than buying bulbs for autumn planting, but a quick way to get spring flowers

Also snowdrops in particular do better planted in the green now rather than as bulbs in the autumn.