March

Early March saw extremes of weather within a couple of days. By now the snowdrops were over, being replaced by a carpet of wild daffodils of various shades of yellow, white and orange coming into bloom. The tiny blue flowers of germander speedwell appeared in sheltered places. By the end of the month a lone buttercup was spotted along with groundsel, wood violets and red dead-nettle (also known as red henbit or purple archangel).

Several varieties of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae, appeared including daffodils, narcissus and jonquils. Narcissus has conspicuous flowers with six petal-like tepals surrounded by a cup- or trumpet-shaped corona. The flowers are generally white, yellow or orange with either uniform or contrasting coloured tepals and corona.

A cock pheasant decided to take residence in the garden, staying many weeks.