Bloody January Again!!
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Struggling to find a headline for the first News item of the
year, I remembered a line from a song by Flanders and Swann from
the 1960's. It is called a "Song of the Weather" and encapsulates
just how I feel about the miserable month we have just
experienced. To find out more about the indominatable pair,
in your search engine type Flanders and Swann singing "A song of
the weather." I am sorry I just could not get the link to work. It
is really worth listening to and will make you smile!
Every kind of weather you can imagine, but most of all incessant
rain which has soaked the gardens and fields making it difficult to
get on with essential tasks. There are small signs of better things
to come, with some early flowers, and daylight lasting until 5.30
pm. A few lambs too in neighbouring fields
Weather
In the New Year Sales I made a timely purchase of a rudimentary
rain gauge just in time to record the exceptionally heavy rain we
have experienced. Should have done this years ago.
20 rain days 5.6" in total, wettest day 18th 1.5"
8 days below zero lowest -4 on 12th
Only one day time temperature in double figures
10.9C on 2nd
Super Blue Blood Moon!
You can guess if there is an evening astronimcal event
here then cloud will spoil it for us! And so it happened this week
just as the moon was rising that deep blood red that didn't last
long enough to get the camera. So this is the best I
captured!!
Garden update
There was one job above all others that I wanted to complete
this month and that was the borders tidy up and removal of
masses of cut back haulms. Important to do this before the new
growth starts to come and especially in those borders underplanted
with early spring bulbs.
Thanks to my very good friend Richard Bramley who
kindly supplied some of his staff to do the tidying up for us all
the borders were cleared up in a day. From left to right Scott and
the 2 Matts. What it is like to be young!
The product of all their efforts
And really tidy borders ready for
weeding!
This task brings it home to me how labour intensive is
management of large mixed borders. Although I had always wanted to
grow a wide range of flowering perennials in classic borders set
off by well maintained lawns, at times now I wished I had planted
more trees and shrubs which are easier to look after. Garden
friends like Liz and Paul and Helen and John who have impresssive
collections of some choice selections set out arboretum style in
their outstanding NGS gardens, show how efective this can be. We do
however have a range of less than choice trees and shrubs
some have which have grown large during the 42 years we have lived
here. It is always sad to lose one of them due to disease or bad
weather
One of the largest trees we had was a wild cherry which had
started to split in the main trunk and become a danger to us and
the passing traffic on an adjoining country road. It was time for
it to go and at a height of 50 - 60 feet tall it was a job for the
professionals
And from the remains of the trunk the boys
fashioned an amazing tree seat,, or as Moira calls it, her
throne!!
,
A sad end for a tree that only once in 2007 put on the
best autumn colour it ever had done.
And this dead alder in a difficult position was removed
pice by piece using ropes and crampons. It was an absolute eyesore
and we are glad to see it go.
What's looking good?
Some years ago I was given by my friend Tony a snowdrop
labelled as "Pusey Green Tips" which is a double form.When it
flowered for me it was a large very early single form with all the
features of Galanthus elwessii. Many of my galanthophile friends
have tried by various means to idntify it for me but with no
success. If anyone has any ideas what it might be I would be most
grateful to hear from you. Please E mail to
keith@cilgwynlodge.co.uk
All my old herbaceous and bulbous favourites have been putting
on a limited show since early in the month, which has accelerated
since the arrival of milder weather and longer day lengths. After
dullness all around us for so long it is marvellous to have some
vibrant colour and new growth to look forward to at last.
Nothing finer than the first bowl of floated
hellebore flowers
Cyclamen coum have multiplied very well since being
planted in the Beech Hedge Winter garden
Helleborus Foetidus
One of my current favourite forms is hellebores from the
Rodney Davey Marbled Group. This one is "Penny's Pink", look out
too for "Anna's Red. Also cultivars from the helleborus "Eric
Smithii" Group
You will observe that whereas I normally remove
all the leaves from the majority of our 250+ hellebores there are
occasions if the leaves are particulary attactive and not too badly
affected by black spot, This yellow leaved form maches its yellow
flowers and contrasts well with the other foliage plants around
it.
Part of the Beech Hedge Walk which is always difficult
to capture because of very low light levels. Even my really capable
photographer friends have struggled to capture a perfect
picture!
Not the biggest clump of winter aconites you will ever
see but it represents some years of sowing seed by hand so that it
infills the gaps in the bearded iris rhizomes, which disappear by
the time the iris are ready to flower.
Thanks to an array of winter flowering shrubs there is also some
heady scent on warmer days. We would like grow more of the really
choice forms that have never done well here in the past because of
our frost pocket location, that gardeners in a milder climate
can grow, including daphne Bohlua, Drimys winteri, chimonanthus
praecox, edgewothia chrysantha and even hamemalis struggle
here.
Sarcocca does very well in numerous forms such as s.
confusa which later on has blue black berries which last until late
autumn
S. hookeriana has larger more attrractive flowers
with later black berries
A particularly fine form with red berries is s.
ruscifolia and large green leaves.
All sarcococca are easy to grow in shade or part shade
in humus rich or relatively dry soil.
Another "good doer" here is winter honeysuckle lonicera X
purpusii "Winter Beauty" which has ageeable scent on milder
days but is even more effective when picked and brought into
a warm room (something I would not recommend with sacococca which
have a too overpowering scent close up)
.
Coloured stems of cornus sanguinea "Midwinter
Fire"
Elegance in the large tunnel comes from this
terrific form of Zanteschia aethiopica "Glencoe". A giant form from
seed 2 years ago and already over 6 feet tall
Wildlife and Countryside
Dorset lambs are always the first here, an unusual choice
perhaps for rugged terrain but they cope well and get to market
earlier than any others. It would not be the advance of spring
without their joyous behaviour. And in the hedgerows the so called
lambs tails flowers of hazel are beginning to colour up with their
lemon yellow pollen.
Foxes are calling across the valley on a regular basis, an eerie
sound on a cold misty night, and another call just at twilight is
that of the drama queen blackbirds which create quite a din with
their high pitched calls as they look for safe roosts in the taller
trees and hedgerows.
Visits
None so far for us this month, but a forthcoming
event in February is the long established Winter Gardening Weekend
in the Tysul Hall in the Teifi valley town of Llandysul. 16th, 17th
and 18th February. Talks, A stage floral display by Richard Bramley
a gold medal winner at Chelsea Flower Show and other high profile
RHS Shows. Refreshments in the hall and cafes and restaurants in
the attractive town. A huge range of quality plants for sale
featuring Farmyard Nurseries strain of quality hellebores all hand
pollinated at the nursery. An event not to be missed. For further
details go to www.farmyardnurseries,
co, uk and click on the Events and Shows tab
Health Update
Almost 2 years since my cancer was diagnosed I underwent my
first treatment at the beginning of the month. There had been some
progression so I decided that it was time to undergo Chemotherapy
as there are no other options open to me. It was not something I
was particularly looking forward to but if successful there is a
50% chance of my general health improving and a longer prognosis.
At present there is no cure for Mesothelioma, my form of cancer,
but new trials are making good headway and after 6 lines of
the chemo I may well qualify for one of these trials. I have to say
I have been most impressed with the treatment I have received at
our local hospital Day Unit and I have had few of the really
serious side effects.
Here I am all tubed up for treatment - it is not
as bad as I am making it look! I have my current favourite book to
indulge me.
I am pleased to be able to do some gardening work on most
days, weather permitting. And because I have had to slow down a bit
it has been a marvellous opportunity to dive into all those garden
books I have purchased over the years. Current favourite without a
doubt is this one. As it is in diary format it is easy to pick up
and put down and absolutely packed with a massive amount of
horticultural information, anecdotes and a travelogue of many
gardens and countries visited. No pictures or colour but so well
written and commanding of attention pictures are not required.
The writer under the name of Tradescant wrote for every monthly
edition of the RHS Journal from 1993 - 2008 until the articles were
ceased on a new edition of the Journal. For me and many others it
was like the loss of a friend. Never stuffy or stuck up there is
plenty of humour and affection to enjoy. I can't recomend it
enough and it is still available on Amazon and other book web
sites
Moira and I are so very grateful for all the cards and messages
we have received from so many friends and acquaintances, which
means such a great deal to us. And believe me the theraputic
effects of gardening are keenly felt when you can get out and about
to admire all the joys of the approaching spring and new life
all around you.
With love and all good wishes for a marvellous gardening year
and the best of health
Keith and Moira XX