Early Spring Flowers Embellish Your Garden

As soon as Christmas is over, and all the decoration have been cleared away, how nice it is to see the early spring bulbs and spring flowering houseplants in the garden centers.While many bulbs re traditionally considered as outdoor features, some can be grown successfully indoors. Bulbs, such as crocus and hyacinths appear in the stores in bud well before any of the- spring bulbs in gardens show through. These bulbs have been forced, but once you have enjoyed them inside the house you can plant them outside the garden to flower again the following year. After they have finished flowering, remove any dead flowers.

When the fear of frost has passed, transfer them to the garden, keeping their leaves intact, where you must feed them with a high potash fertilizer every two weeks to encourage them to flower well into the following year. Primula, with its delicate petals, makes a lovely spring plant for the kitchen windowsill. When the flowers eventually die, you can encourage extra flowering by placing the plant in a cool conservatory or on a frost-free porch where, alter a short rest away from the central heating, a second flush of flowers will soon appear.

 The hydrangea (French Hydrangea) is a popular spring plant, which makes a nice change from some of the smaller flowering specimens. Although you tend to buy these plants in spring; they will flower well into the summer months if given the correct treatment. Hydrangea need at great deal of moisture, preferring rainwater to hard tap water, and they are best placed in a flat-bottomed container so they can absorb water Freely! Surround the plants with damp moss to encourage humidity and keep them in a cool, bright situation.

After they have finished flowering, prune back the stems and re-pot them into a larger container. These plants benefit from a short stay in the garden during the summer months. Simply bury the pot in a shady part of the garden, watering and feeding periodically with a high potash Feed. In fall, bring the plant indoors to a cool, frost-free room and reduce watering to encourage the plant to rest. In early spring, gradually increase watering to bring the plant back into flower once again.

The cold winter will end soon.  Let's learn and prepare your flower garden to the coming early spring.

•     Remove winter mulch only after the weather has become reliably warm. The same also applies in case of cutting back evergreen plants, such as lavender.
      The perennials that have been heaved out of the ground by frost should be replanted as soon as possible.
•     The dead plants of the winter should be cut and the old perennials should be cleaned of any foliage.
      If you have mounded the earth around the roses, as a protective measure, it is the time to remove it.
•     Concentrate on pruning the rose bushes before they begin leafing out.
      The flower beds should not be dig too early. Pick up a handful of soil. If it falls apart and is dry enough, you can start digging. You can also start the process of adding compost or manure.
•     Make sure to take out the weeds as soon as you see them. If you leave them now, you will have too much weeding work at your hand later on.
      Cut the ornamental grasses.  In an early spring garden, grass grows very vigorously. So, put a sharp trench between the flower beds to edge them and to keep the grass within limits. Repeat the procedure a number of times in the season. If you want to avoid the repetition work, go for permanent edging.
•     Late winter or early spring is the best season to prune your shrubs. They are still dormant, so they don't suffer from it and this time their foliage is minimal, so you can see what you're doing. There is one exception to this rule.
      Don't prune flowering shrubs in spring. By doing so you will cut the flowers you were hoping for this season. Prune these shrubs after they finished blooming. That way they have the most time to recover and regain strength
      When planting spring flower seeds, wait until two weeks after the last frost to plant them in the ground, or start them inside and move them outdoors when the weather warms up.
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Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers are beautiful and fragrant. Changing seasons have a profound effect on plant and animal life. Spring is the time of renewal of plant life.
Nature awakens in Spring, and Spring Flowers bloom. Spring is a wonderful time of the year for fresh Spring Flowers, particularly Spring flower bulbs.
In spring, plants and trees sprout new leaves and Flowers bloom.
The number of daylight hours increases during spring, and in many countries, people celebrate spring festivals.
Many different species of Spring Flowers grow from bulbs. Spring gardeners and Flower lovers often overlook minor bulbs in favor of the larger showier bulbs such as Daffodils, Tulips, and Hyacinths that bloom later.
The minor bulbs do have a useful place in home landscapes as they extend the season of bloom and give the gardener a "jump on spring." These are best purchased and planted in the fall so that they Flower in Spring, just like other Spring Flowering Bulbs.
Crocus are considered by many as the first Spring Flowers, however many minor bulbs bloom even earlier during Spring. These early bloomers are usually short and small, but if planted in mass, they can be most effective in the landscape.
The following list of Spring Flowers will help you choose your fresh cut Spring Flowers or potted flowering bulbs at your local flower retailers. The details will give you some interesting information on Spring Flowers and useful tips for Spring Flower care along the way!

Take a moment and enjoy the myriad of colors that Spring Flowers have to offer.
Agapanthus is also commonly known as the Lily of the Nile, African Blue Lily, and African Lily. The genus, Agapanthus includes about 10 species. Agapanthus flowers bloom in large, round clusters or umbels of blue, white or violet- blue. The funnel shaped Agapanthus flowers gorw at the end of a thick 2 to 4 foot tall stem. The Agapanthus clusters measure about 6 to 8 inches across.
Agapanthus plants are native to South Africa, spreading across the Western Cape through to the Eastern Cape. Agapanthus grow in the shade from trees to get protection from the hot sun.
The Agapanthus africanus' anthers, like the petals, are bluish because the pollen is lilac in colour. Agapanthus africanus shares this characteristic with Agapanthus caulescens and Agapanthus coddii. Bees visit and pollinate the Agapanthus flowers. The Agapanthus seeds are dispersed by wind.
Agapanthus africanus are lily-like blooms and come in clusters made up of many bell-shaped flowers. The Agapanthus clusters are globe-shaped or pendular. Agapanthus flowers are in various shades of blue, from a dusky, powder blue to an almost indigo-purple, but there are some white varieties as well.
Facts About Agapanthus
Agapanthus is a showy widely grown plant for its exotic blue or white flowers that bloom from late spring until the beginning of autumn, depending on the species.
The perennial Agapantus grow from an underground rhizome each year.
The tender Agapantus africanus species is evergreen while the hardier Agapantus campanulatus species, coming from moister, mountain grasslands, have slightly smaller flowers and die down during winter and re-emerge again the following spring.
Agapanthus is suspected of causing haemolytic poisoning in humans, and the sap causes severe ulceration of the mouth.
Agapanthus contains several saponins and sapogenins that generally have anti-inflammatory (reduce swelling and inflammation), anti-oedema (oedema - swelling due to accumulation of fluid), antitussive (relieve or suppress coughing) and immunoregulatory (have influence on the immune system) properties.