Don’t you just love early spring in the garden? Wait until you see how beautiful my cottage garden looks in early spring.
After a long cold winter here in NJ, it brings so much joy to my days to watch the early spring flowers bloom.
Last fall, I spent a lot of time planting daffodils, alliums, and tulips in the gardens.
And what a difference those blooms made this spring!
If you want to get continual blooms all season long, you’ve got to plant bulbs in fall for early spring color.
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Welcome to My Early Spring in the Garden Tour
Gah! Isn’t that flowering crabapple tree amazing!
It is one of the reasons we bought this house 23 years ago.
The blooms are so gorgeous and as they fade, the blossoms rain down on the yard.
It’s one of my favorite times in the garden because it is just glorious when it is in full bloom.
The flowers don’t last more than a week, but they sure are beautiful while they last.
Daffodils
One of my favorite additions this year was these stunning double-flowering daffodils.
Aren’t they gorgeous?
The details on them and the variety of colors added some personality to the early spring border.
I planted most of the double-flowering variety in my front yard cottage garden.
But a few made their way to the backyard too.
Here is another one in yellow.
They are not only beautiful, but they lasted a while too.
Tulips
After the daffodils start to bloom, the tulips take over the show.
I’ve had these tulips for several years now.
Last year, we had really late hard freeze just before Mother’s Day that took them out earlier than I cared for.
But they all returned this year beautifully.
Living in New Jersey, we have a high population of deer.
So I need to protect my tulips the moment they break ground.
HERE are my strategies for keeping the deer from eating my tulips and other plants.
I do a few things to keep them away from my plants.
But I keep a close eye on my tulips until they bloom and spray them a few times with deer repellent from the moment they break ground.
Don’t you just love that shade of pink?
And they look so pretty with my pansies.
Pansies
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, buy pansies in fall instead of spring.
You’ll get two seasons out of them that way, instead of one.
Because pansies are not fans of summer heat, so they die out.
Plant pansies in fall, leave them be in winter and they will bounce back in spring.
It’s a great way to save money on annuals, don’t you agree?
Muscari
Do you grow muscari too?
They are so easy-care and smell amazing!
Forget-Me-Nots
Another one favorite early spring flower is forget-me-nots.
They are so pretty, bloom early and self sow easily.
And when I say they self sow easily, they go all over the garden.
But it’s super easy to dig them up and move them around where you want them.
I just love that shade of blue, don’t you?
The flowers are so dainty and are a must-have in the early spring flower garden.
Creeping Phlox
Another early bloomer is this creeping phlox.
You can get them in a variety of colors but I gush over that shade of purple.
One of the reasons I love creeping phlox is deer tend to bypass them.
So I don’t have to worry about them in the garden.
And doesn’t it look striking with my daffodils?
The garden is really starting to fill in and bloom now.
It’s amazing how quickly that happens in early spring too.
And do you remember that DIY birdhouse that Chris and I made in spring?
We’ve already got some finches nesting in it!
This is the time of year the birds will nest in almost anything we have.
Just yesterday, I tried to move a basket that was hanging outside and a bird flew out of it!
That was startling to say the least.
So I left the basket where it was.
I was watching a mother bird the other day bringing organic materials into the DIY birdhouse so she could nest her babies.
I have a few birdhouses around the property, and they all house a family of birds each spring.
It’s fun to hear the babies when the mama bird brings them food.
Spring Gardening Tips
- How to Divide Perennials to Grow Your Garden for Free
- 5 Tips for Spring Cleaning Up in the Garden
- The Complete Guide To Hydrangea Care
- How to Start a Garden the Easy Way
- 27 Deer Resistant Flowers for the Cottage Garden
- 7 Ways to Keep Deer From Eating Your Plants
Follow the May Garden Hop
Today, I’m sharing my early spring in the garden tour with some other friends that live in different hardiness zones.
It’s so cool to see how different everyone’s gardens and chores differ from zone to zone.
Mary from Life at Bella Terra
Chas from Chas Crazy Creations
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Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
Enjoy your day! xoxo
