Not just because our household supports three different footballs teams that all happen to wear blue, but because spring gardens are full of lovely shades of blue right now.

Forget me nots.

I have a sea of Forget me Nots in flower between the emerging stems of hardy perennials and shrubs in my sunny border. They have been there for years, spreading their seed here, there and everywhere it seems. But I don’t mind; they’re such pretty things. Easy enough to pull up when there are just too many of them. I picked some for a vase with the late flowering miniature narcissus ‘Hawera’ and the combination of pale lemon with sky blue made me smile. Happy colours!

Brunnera.

Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ has flowers that are reminiscent of Forget me Nots, but they’re held on longer stems above stunning foliage. As its name suggests, the heart shaped leaves look like they’ve been touched by frost. Delicate white veining laid over the green leaf. Very eye-catching and this plant can be used to light up shaded areas. Reliable and trouble free, it’s an excellent hardy perennial that flowers from March through to May.

Camassia leichtlinii.

Camassia leichtlinii are bulbous plant that I first spotted growing in the meadows at Great Dixter almost twenty years ago. I have grown them ever since, in pots, in the border and also in grass when the right, slightly wild location has presented itself. Deep blue, with a hint of purple and golden stamens. The individual flowers are star shaped and make up a flower spike on a stem about 50-75cm tall. Early into growth, the flowers are perfect now in early May.

Bluebells at Marbury Country Park, near Northwich.

We have gone from winter to summer in less than a week this year. The Bank holiday weekend was freezing with snow on the hills and now Manchester has been hotter than Spain. Bluebells that were slow to emerge this year will be gone in a flash with the heat, so go out for a woodland walk and enjoy the carpets of blue while you can.