February 2009 in the Garden
The snowdrops are looking lovely and the hellebores are coming into flower too. The scent from Viburnum fragrans, winter honeysuckle and the winter flowering sarcococca are lovely but they don’t do well indoors. My honeysuckle dropped all over the floor and seemed to lose its scent similarly the viburnum. The winter jasmine was fine though. Catkins can be seen on the trees on the side of the roads and they look lovely with daffodils in a vase but do be careful not to damage the trees.
The crowded clumps of snowdrops can be split now there is no need to wait until the foliage dies down just enjoy the flowers first. Dividing the bulbs ‘in the green’ as it is called is the most successful way. They do very well on clay as do the hellebores, which are beginning now. If you take off all their old leaves, those who haven’t done it already, the new growth and the flowers look nicer, the same with epimediums. When I worked in Bath about 20 years ago the gipsies used to sell bunches of snowdrops they had picked and packed into baskets. I always bought a bunch even though I had them in the garden and they smelled so lovely.
The winter jasmine can be pruned, as can the Viburnum fragrans as soon as the flowers are over. Mine is planted by the door in a space that is much too small for it so that will be one of my tasks.
I planted several pots of Iris reticulata in the autumn and I bring them into the porch as they come into bloom - they are a joy. (Phoo at head of the page). Lidl’s have pots of bulbs in bud at a very reasonable price which make a nice display on a cool windowsill or in a porch, later they can be planted in the ground near the house where they will bloom next year. An indoor plant I have in bloom at the moment is Bilbergia nutans which is so easy and quite spectacular. Look at the photo above of it, it’s fascinating.
Broad beans can be sown in the green house or cold frame in pots and planted out later also sweet peas. You can actually plant them in old loo rolls or the beans in egg boxes, these will degrade when put into the ground.Today we bought our seed potatoes so we had a good choice, a little later they can be chitted in trays in a cool bright place. We bought Charlotte and Pink fir apple both technically salad potatoes but we found last year that the Charlottes can be used for everything. I want some Valour too but could not find any again this year. The Charlottes are second earlies and the Pink fir apples we plant as main crop. The Charlottes have just finished and were still excellent. |
