GINA PARKINSON checks out how her spring garden is growing

March is here and the garden is pregnant with promise as new flowers emerge almost, it seems, on a daily basis. Snowdrops have been with us for several weeks and are beginning to go past their best.

As hoped, ours have managed to keep going until the first few sprays of Pulmonaria 'Mary Mottram' opened to give us a few days of silvery and grey green foliage and dainty white and lilac-blue flowers. As the snowdrops fade over the next few weeks their foliage will be hidden by increasing numbers of pulmonaria blooms which are followed by large leaves that will last all summer.

In our back garden, Pulmonaria officinalis is in bloom, an early start for this plant which for us normally waits until March or even April before putting in an appearance.

Euphorbia wulfenii is in full bloom with sprawling stems covered in furry grey-green leaves and topped with heavy heads of lime-green flowers. These will last for ages and although our garden is small it is good to allow room for this dramatic plant. I tried taming it with a metal hoop around its middle last year but some stems still found their way out from their binding and those that didn't looked awkward and uncomfortable. This year the hoop has given up and lies around the plant's ankles, while the stems bend over the lawn and look great. They can be tidied up after flowering to give room for the new stems to come up to bear next year's flowers.

The perennial wallflower has flowered constantly since it was planted last spring and I can't believe it was only 20cm or so tall when it was put in. The plant that has developed counts almost as a small shrub with grey-green evergreen leaves and, as the name Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' suggests, mauve flowers. The flowering period is March-November, but in sheltered gardens it will extend the full 12 months.

This erysimum is a vigorous grower but is short lived and after a few years will become woody and unattractively shaped. Once this stage is reached it is best to take several cuttings in spring and dispose of the parent plant.

Another plant bought last year is Geranium x oxonianum 'Spring Fling' which didn't do anything much but get its roots down and settle into its new home. A small clump of new leaves is now growing marked cream, yellow, green, pink and brown which, after their early show, will turn green for the summer. It has yet to flower and there is no note in the catalogue as to their colour but as it was bought for the foliage they will be an extra bonus.

Updated: 09:10 Saturday, March 02, 2002