spring essential

 

wild hyacinth (in the back garden)

 

and there she is

  

 

 

Ricki magnolia, from the Little Girl series of hybrids (a line of eight dwarf, April-blooming magnolia trees) developed by the U.S. National Arboretum in the 1950s.

Pushkinia

Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica - another new and exciting bulb, slightly fragrant! 

I wondered whether there was any relation to the Russian poet (this flower is also named 'russian snowdrop') - but no, no connection. It is another Russian whom the flower name honours, the chemist and plant collector Count Apollos Apollosovich Musin-Pushkin (1760-1805).
 

flowers aren't everything

 

Stipa tenuissima Pony tail - it has grown a bit, but not as much i wanted, in fact it seems i was mistaken and this grass doesn't get as tall as i had expected (only 30-40 cm) - 

i have started to move them to another location (i think this will gradually happen with everything i have planted, only mistakes, miscalculatons or to put it encouragingly the process of learning :)

a small Spiraea japonica Goldmound, which is supposed to have bright yellow leaves in spring and autumn - they have emerged in reddish hues, maybe they will turn more yellow later...