As flowers follow icicles life is slowly returning...

Ona steep bank, close to where I grew up in Aberdeenshire, icicles a metre long used to hang from rocky outcrops for weeks at a time during the coldest months.

These glittering daggers looked as if they belonged in the highest regions of the Himalayas, yet within weeks of the thaw the grassy areas of that same steep slope would be studded with hundreds of primroses. To me, the transformation always seemed like the best sort of miracle.

I thought about these sturdy little troopers a few days ago when I came across a patch of wild primroses growing by the roadside near Milngavie. Further along, the same stretch of verge was white with snowdrops and a few daffodils danced in the breeze in the garden of a neighbouring cottage.

Where would we be in the last days of winter without these stalwarts? Flowers lift the spirits and never more so on days when there’s an icy wind or the sky is a uniform sheet of grey.

Earlier that same day I’d spotted some blackthorn trees in sheltered spots beginning to open their blossom and a huge clump of Helleborus argutifolius that was covered in Chartreuse-green flowers so I was already feeling pretty cheerful by the time I came across a scattering of Iris reticulata.

For weeks now, I’ve been regretting not planting some of these early-flowering dwarf iris in my own garden. Grown singly in the ground these small bulbs are easy to overlook, but when raised in clumps in shallow pans they form a striking pool of blues and mauves that’s particularly welcome on days when the sky seems to have been stripped of colour. I’m determined not to miss out on them again and I’ve been working my way

through the bulb catalogues trying to select just a handful of varieties to plant in the autumn.

But autumn’s a long way off and meanwhile all around, life is returning. At long last, one of the great tits has taken a fancy to the nesting box, the tulips are pushing upwards and I’ve already started on weeding the borders. Now I need to start on the dozens of small perennials that have over-wintered in pots.

It hasn’t been a harsh winter, but as always some of my shrubs are showing signs of wind damage, so I need to snip off the desiccated foliage before it becomes an eyesore and I need to organise space under cover so that I’ve got room to bring on plug plants.

If you don’t have a heated greenhouse, then plug plants are one of the easiest ways to grow summer bedding.

You just have to ensure they are kept in bright conditions and free from frosts and harsh winds, but at times during spring, when you are juggling trays of seedlings, tomato and pepper plants, and cosy spots for scented pelargoniums, space on the greenhouse staging is at a premium, so if you need to add extra shelves, do it now before overcrowding becomes an issue.