Baskets of spring flowers

In Vancouver and Victoria they know how to celebrate spring. By mid-March, the daffodils are in full bloom and the public parks filled with cool-weather bedding plants. Although I tell myself over and again that British Columbia has a two-month head start on southern Ontario, I don't understand why it takes us so long to break out from under the snows of winter. It's certainly not because we want to spend a minute more indoors -- most of the gardeners I know can't wait to be outside in the garden. And it can't be because the garden centres have no plants - corner grocery stores have been selling primroses since the first of March, and just last week I passed a garden center with skids full of pansies. Is it the tradition of waiting to plant annuals until the May 24th weekend that holds us back? While I cherish many traditions, this is one that I'm bound and determined to break.

Inspired by the gardeners of Vancouver and Victoria, I've decided to plant a pot full of early spring flowers. If I plant now, I'll have about two months of colour before replacing them with summer annuals.

A pot of pansies is the simplest way to greet spring. For an instant welcome to the front doorstep, choose all one colour, or mix and match these friendly flowers. In past years, I've placed a pot of daffodils into the center of the pot and surrounded them with pansies.

But this year, I'm being more creative. In my quest to find more than pansies for early spring pots, I discovered that quite a few annuals and tender perennials actually prefer the cool days of spring to the hot, humid ones of summer. Among them are primroses, snapdragons, English daisies, and stocks. These annuals and tender perennials bloom through even a late spring frost. Others, like sweet alyssum, forget-me-not, baby's breath, nicotiana, and calendula are a bit more sensitive, so either cover them or move the container to a cool garage or shed if frost threatens.

Foliage is always an important element to a container planting, and a bit more of a challenge for early spring pots. Dusty Miller can handle quite a lot of cool weather as can Baltic ivy. However, a great technique that I saw at the Canada Blooms show is to use moss. Just as you would plant a moss basket in the summer, tuck cool weather annuals and tender perennials into a moss basket. The colourful flowers of primroses and English daisies look especially good when combined with the moss.

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