Miniature treasures to nurture

TO anyone engaged in the process of taming nature — the essence of garden-making — self-sowing plants are pariahs!

You only have to think of what Alchemilla mollis, many Pulmonarias, Forget-me-Nots and Aquilegias are capable of! But there are a handful of exceptions, notably the small, early-flowering bulbs currently due for planting.

I should therefore introduce you to such miniature treasures as the elegant and exquisite chionodoxa in sky blue, to neat puskinnias in milky-blue, anemone blanda (also in blue or white but never mixed) and scillas in their two-tone blue shades or pure white. I notice them now, box after box neatly laid out on shelf and bench at garden outlets waiting for the keen gardener, the old-stager, the beginner.