Dog-wood - looks like a little fire burning at the back of a border
And alliums. The seed heads from the early winter are all dessicated by the snow and cold now, but still nuzzling in the places I found for them:
the allium seed heads after the winter
See the little bright green grass-like blades? these are the self-sown allium seedlings from the heads I placed in various places in the late autumn. If you leave them undisturbed, they easily self-seed, germinate and after 2 or 3 years, they mature into small bulbs, large enough to lift and pot on:
allium bulb-lets - free!
Alliums are cheap enough to buy, but I really the idea of growing my own supplies, from seeds. Today, I will lift a few dozen of these from where they have been abiding for 2 years and pot them up.
But, for sheer joyful hopefulness for the year ahead, blossoms on bare wood are hard to beat. Here are the first signs of the quince:
flowering quince about to burst
I love Springtime – so cheery after a long winter!