Thanks, petal
Best blooms to make Mum smile
IF you want to treat Mum this Mother’s Day, a bunch of daffs from the garage won’t cut it.
Instead, make her feel really special today by taking round a gorgeous shrub or pot of pretty spring flowers.
They will last much longer than blooms cut for the vase and can be used to spruce up the patio to remind her spring is here.
Cheer her up with a potted arrangement of polyanthus in heart-warming shades of red, pink and yellow. Their long- lasting fragrant flowers attract bees and butterflies – you can swing by a garden centre to pick up a pot for a couple of quid.
Pansies and violas, with their cheeky faces and sweet scent, are also firm favourites, especially as they have edible blooms that can be used to decorate cakes and green salads. They come in almost every shade of the rainbow. Some flowers are solid colours with a dot of yellow in the centre or blotched with dark hues. Others have frilled and ruffled petals that are stunning in cottage borders and trendy, painted vintage pots. Dwarf narcissi, anemones and hyacinths also herald spring. This trio looks most striking grouped together or combined with snake’s head f ritillary, hellebores and polyanthus in a large tub, fringed with tails of ivy, feathery ferns or grassy-leaved carex sedge. And for a pretty finishing touch, topdress with pebbles or some colour-themed aggregate.
Dwarf early tulips are also available now, ready to provide a riot of colour when their buds open in late spring.
Greigii varieties have beautiful flowers, often bi-coloured, with leaves mottled or striped with crimson. Red Riding Hood is a wonder, with vibrant scarlet blooms over rich green leaves.
For something different, go for Pinocchio, which has elegant red blooms with a white stripe.
Or treat Mum to a seasonal shrub. Camellias, ornamental quince, forsythia and magnolias are all in flower now, as is the slender weeping tree Prunus pendula.
This beautiful cherry blossom comes with white or carmine-pink flowers and could be planted in a large tub to take centre stage on her patio. d The