A little colour when all around is Black and White

What a welcome evening of cheerful colour on such a icy cold snow day its been.

Beautiful images, they do bring hope! Well done.

Certainly does it for me! I'm thrilled to see the yellow auricula...I think I might have it..I've been looking for a name for it for ages! Can you check it out for me... And let me know what you think Brian? Thanks! :)

http://www.growsonyou.com/garden/show_garden_item/29146-primula-auricula-yellow

Fantastic flowers, thanks for cheering us up with them:)

A welcome bit of colour Brian, love the hepatica.. Has the snow affected you at all.

Thanks Brian lovely pictures - nice to cheer up Goyers with this blog of wonderful plants , most of us had a bad run of it lately - a much needed blog. I love Hellebore Betty Runicar - another one to get when thaw comes!!!!

Beautiful! So many special plants.

And now I have a great big smile all over my face! Thank you, especially for the camellias and the double hellebore - oh and the deep yellow polyanthus which I could almost smell!

Karen yours is the European wild Auricula grows on alpine meadow across Europe, grows in a similar way to our cowslip but somewhat higher altitude .
Like so many things I show they tend to be on the small side,that is the case P. Palinuri ( think I spelt it wrong on the blog)Flowers are only about half the size of yours.
For the record it grows on a couple of southerly Peninsulas in Italy.Rare in the wild so much so it is on red endangered plant list.However not that difficult in cultivation from seed or cuttings.
Difficult to know why it is rare could be its home has been bulldozed to build houses.
B

You have some real beauties there Bjs...the double Primrose and the Polyanthus...devine....The Hepatica & Saxafraga are lovely too...:>)

Steragram
Pleased you smiled,and yes the perfume is heaven.

Surreylad not yet!

We really need cheering up Brian as ours are all buried, some lovely plants, I really like the double primrose and the Betty Runicar is a real beauty..

That's great Brian, thank you so much..the 'Mountain Cowslip'.

I feel like I've just stepped in to another flower show Bjs. That Hepatica leaf is beautiful and the flowers are too. The Saxifraga Winifred and both Hellebores are stunning plants. Its a WOW! Wow! wow ! blog.

Well, they certainly brightened my evening, some lovely plants there, and all so healthy looking too...lovely leaves on the Hepatica, thanks for the blog..

Ooooh, how lovely exemplars! Brian, it is never so bad it couldn´t be even worse. I wouldn´t say it is "black and white" around you. There are no colours in my garden, still frosts and some snow.
That Helebore makes wonderful cluster. How do you make them to create such a big clump? I asked you in your previous blog about that paeonia. It is unusual time for them to have buds. Where does this sort come from? Is it possible to get a small piece of Saxifraga Winifred if you replant it in the future? It is lovely!
Actually your little fern is doing very well, Hellebores are still quiet under the soil.

Lovely to see some colour, its still a white world outside, the main colour here is from the birds on the feeders
You have beautiful, special plants
Thanks for sharing x

Thank you for the beautiful photos of your beautiful plants, Brian. My Hepaticas are in flower too, but yours is very special with those wonderful leaves.

I looked at my 'Cowichan' primulas yesterday and they're all soggy and ruined. :-(( Are yours under cover?

Spritz
Yes most things that look happy are under cover.lost so much that I valued in 2010/11 that I decided to shut the glass houses up each night that frost is forecast,That is why so much looks very advanced.I would rather see it early than not at all.

Beautiful so pretty and what amazing colour to have this early. Much appreciated thank you Bjs. :O)

Another great showing Brian.My P.palinuri is not far behind yours.

lots of pretty colours goin g on there Brian, lovely to see :o))

What else can I say that hasn't already!! Delightful one and all. Thanks for showing the trough Brian. I'm looking forward to doing mine. What mix do you use? I've read that a cactus compost is suitable???
I can't believe how far on that Dicentra is - last time I checked, mine's hasn't even began showing yet.

every one a gem !

Scottish
As I said to Spritz I am closing the glass houses up when its cold rather than loose more plants

Katarina
The Paeonia comes from the Balearic Islands mainly Majorcon.
Normally eary flowering.and takes about six years from seed to flowering.Another one described as vulnerable in the wild due to Goats and land development.
B

nice pictures, Bjs. I've got a few polystyrene troughs that I want to use as planters, it's just getting round to concreting them. Did you do yours, or is it still polystyrene?

Fran I have not concreted over any polystyrene troughs .the surface has been hardened using a electric paint stripper and then painted with masonry paint.

I thought it didn't look exactly polystyrene but I couldn't figure what had been done. An elctric paint stripper? does that work with heat? what would you hve used if you didn't have one?

Makes me feel warm inside seeing beautiful plants

Fran that's a thought I know a blow lamp works but unlikely you would have that,How about a Hair dryer,never tried it but they do get hot on full heat ,I will try on a piece of Polystyrene and report back to morrow
B

Brian-if you paint them without hardening them,do they just soak up the paint.

Bjs, Franl and Pcw you can paint them without hardening them. We did a class at Suntrap and all we did was roughen the fish boxes using a wire brush then gave them a coat of masonry paint. Polystyrene does not absorb the paint. Scottish did a blog to show her first attempt at making a trough from a fish box. She used different colours of paint to give a good looking finish to hers. I'll look back and see if I can find the blogs for you. Found it on Page 2 of her Blog page. If you can I think hardening them might help them to be stronger and last longer.

thanks, Bjs, that sounds an interesting experiment! a hair dryer i DO have - don't often use it, it makes my hair frizzy, so I tend to "drip dry".

sounds good, Scotsgran: I was thinking of concrete (will work up to hyperfufa later!) cos I've only got a couple and I wanted to make moulds of them to get more than I started with.

I do have some small plastic "mesh" boxes, don't think just painting them would work, I could try using those as moulds.

Sorry to have sidetracked from the main theme of the blog, Bjs, which was the flowers, not the container!

Phil as scotsgran said it does not absorb paint ,however hardening the surface in my garden is a plus mainly because of heavy traffic that may knock corners off or chew pieces out of them,the other thing that comes to mind is that the polystyrene surface melts with the heat that creates a more weathered look rather than angular abrasions.

Karen Corydalis and Dicentra are both in the same botanical family =Fumariaceae.Its a big family runs into hundreds .