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, there are no articles about that other winter stalwart, the aconite, and I intend to rectify that right now.Eranthis hyemalis is the egg yolk-yellow flower we see clustered around trees in February. It is shorter than its chum the snowdrop but has wider, more

to the sweet pea.The best I can find is a cowboy song that was a hit in 1966 "Sweet pea / Apple of my eye /  Don't know when and I don't know why". Nice but not exactly horticulturally relevant.*Anyway, sweet peas are flowering now. Lathyrus odoratus

, then hybrid musk roses are hard to beat. In support of this I draw your attention to the photograph at the top of this blog. It was taken today and my, does it not look fabulous? A blustery September day and she is flowering like a good ‘un.Hybrid musk roses

. However, I include it because it makes a good, narrow growing, multi-stemmed tree with stunning white, starry flowers in springtime followed by edible fruit and dark red leaves. Can stand a bit of wet.Number three: Sorbus hupehensis. A Chinese Rowan

).But I digress: back to blossom. The purpose of blossom (as I'm sure you know) is to attract pollinators and therefore to produce fruit. However, it's also very lovely in its own right. Not all of the trees are yet in flower, but at the moment we can

. This is a very vigorous climber, better known as Russian vine or mile-a-minute. Only the very brave will plant this in a small garden as, although it's undoubtedly attractive and flowers for a long time, it has an unquenchable curiosity. Many years ago I

of my favourite plants, one that is very much in evidence at this time of year (there were lots at the Chelsea Flower Show last week): the comparatively humble geum. Most of the garden varieties can trace their pedigrees back to either the Chilean Geum

strawberry, or even a Hobnob. It is, however, evergreen and has fine cinnamon-coloured bark. In this picture you can just see the white hanging bell flowers as well. (Apparently the name comes from unum tantum edo, which means 'eat only one' in Latin

is that the colour of the flower leaches down the stems so the whole thing is suffused with blueEryngium bourgattii - the best blue of them all. A sort of steely azure as cold (yet devastatingly alluring) as the eyes of a mermaid. The best is probably one called

Many years ago when I was a landscaper in London, I had a regular client who had a tiny garden in Wandsworth. It was literally one flower bed, a small shed and a wall topped by a chain link fence.The reason we had to keep returning was because