My sap has stared to rise with Spring just around the corner
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
A really busy and enjoyable month with a full calendar of events
and outings and sufficient fine weather to work in the gardens and
tunnels. Good growth at last after a cold January.
The Beech Hedge Walk our main winter/spring
border
Two old helle-bores! Me on the left and our great friend
Richard Bramley, Farmyard Nurseries
In some winter months I struggle to find subjects to photograph
but this month has provided so many opportunities that I have taken
433 pictures! so plenty to look forward to in this News
item.
I think I can safely say on the 8th anniversary of
launching this website, that this is the biggest I have ever
published!!
Weather
A mixed bag with every weather condition except thunder and
lightning experienced during the month. Increasingly warmer days
and nights in the latter half accompanied on several days by low
cloud and mist. 17 rain days, 10 frosts min -4C on 6th and
9th. Warmest 13C on 2nd and 20th
Torrential rain on the evening of the 3rd suddenly
turned to snow which came down in sheets!
The angry sky at dusk gave an indication of the
precipitation to come!
Garden update
With the exception of the Koi Pond border, every other area of
the garden has been cut back and weeded, the first time I have
completed this by the end of January. And what a difference it
makes to how the garden now looks and how much easier it is to
appreciate the early flowering plants.
Hellebores, the first daffodil (February Gold) and
pieris "Valley Valentine" which like most forms of this genus has
taken a long time to reach a decent size
It has also given more time this month to go out and about, cut
back the roses, sow seeds and pot on in the nursery. With the
arrival of some milder weather the lawns have started to grow well
but I have resisted the temptation to mow for the time being
because I know that once I start I won't be able to
stop!!
A few daffodils coming into flower and other bulbous plants
beginning to show, developing flower buds on early flowering shrubs
and numerous self seeded pulmonarias in the woodland garden
uplifting all the plantings there with their blue sheen.
Heathers on the bank alongside the Lodge. They were
planted in 1987 and are still going strong. A great source of
nectar for early bees.
Chrysosplenium macrophyllum always the first
perennial to flower
here (often in early January. Very easy to grow in moist deep
shade, it bulks up well from runners. Attractive and delicate
flowers for up to 6 weeks
What's looking good?
This is where I launch into hellebore bore mode! (Thanks
to Christopher Lloyd for this great description of gardeners like
me!) As most readers will know they are my favourite plant
amongst a whole host of other serious contenders and this year they
look wonderful after a very slow start. Needless to say I continue
to add new ones to our collection which now amounts to 315 planted
around the gardens (yes I counted them all this week!) And I go on
to Moira about her shoe and bag collection!!.
From early beginnings in 1976 when there were few places where
you could buy hellebores, they have become must have plants for
winter and are widely available. Having acquired many forms of
helleborus x hybridus (formerly known as helleborus
orientalis) I have been searching out wild species forms and newer
introductions of cultivars. Always something different to keep me
keen!!
A collection of flowers from the gardens. All the large
flowers are from x hybridus forms. The smaller flowers around the
bottom of the dish are from species forms.
A trip to Ashwood Nurseries (see visits later)
seduces you to buy new introductions!
Back home, compare the dainty flowers of helleborus
torquatus, a species form, with the huge flowers of the
hybrids.
Elsewhere in the garden is this huge flowered
helleborus niger, a form I had thought was "Potters Wheel" but now
believe to be an introduction from Ashwoods
A more recent h. niger introduction is this double form
HGC Snow Frills
Apart from their obvious beauty, range of colours and forms,
ability to grow in most places except bog or dry sunny places, and
long flowering times of up to 3 months, they are long lived plants,
some of ours already exceeding 20 years old. Rabbit proof and
generally healthy apart from blackspot which can be treated with a
range of remedies, they require little maintenance, apart from
cutting off the spent flower heads in spring before they shed their
seeds everywhere, and cutting of the old leaves in December for
cosmetic reasons and to avoid the spread of any blackspot to the
new flowers. A feed of fertiliser in Spring (blood fish and bone is
ideal) or whatever is your usual balanced fertliser. A mulch of
compost or well rotted manure in autumn can also be beneficial but
do not cover the growing crowns as it could cause them to rot
killing the plant.
A complex intersectional cross of h. argutifolius, h.
lividus and h. niger was made in the 1960's by Eric
Smith one of the foremost nurseryman of his day. The cross is known
as h.ericsmithii and there at least 10 named cultivars.
The white ones in this pic are forms of h.
sternii, the 2 at the top are un named forms, the one at the bottom
is "Winter Moonbeam" for me the best in this
group.
In the last few years several nurseries in the UK and Europe
have sought to further improve h. ericsmithii by crossing it with
other sections of the genus. They are reproduced by tissue culture
to ensure they will come true. For me the best forms are those
introduced by R D Nursery in Devon. Known as Rodney Davey Marbled
Group they have wonderful leaves which I do not cut back
before flowering.
This one is Penny's Pink" and thrives in a well drained
spot in part sun. For other new introductions go to www. helleborus.de and
www.winterangels.eu/?=en
There are of course other stars of the season especially
snowdrops which by common consent of gardening friends are quite
superb this year, and the good old long flowering, weatherproof and
utterly charming cyclamen coum.
Wildlife and countryside
Lambing has started on all the neighbouring farms and
the sight of a few lambs gambolling (is that a word?!!) in
the fields adds further proof that Spring is indeed just around the
corner (in spite of the best efforts of storm Doris!!)
Feeding time for the later lambing ewes before being
taken into the barns where they lamb. Pictures of lambs next
month.
On the 16th suddenly and without warning on a damp mild night
the frogs arrived in their hundreds in the Paddock Pond. 6 days and
nights of sexual mayhem continued. Just as quickly they have all
gone apart from a few dead corpses, leaving behind a mass of spawn.
Last year late frosts destroyed all the fresh spawn and we had no
tadpoles, so fingers crossed for milder weather until the tadpoles
hatch.
Visits
An incredible 9 garden visits during the month. I am sure that
we have never been out and about so many times in any month of the
year. We also had a visit to Cilgwyn Lodge from some local members
of our Hardy Plant Society group, our first since my illness last
winter. Pictures are all that is needed to give you an impression
of some of the lovely gardens we visited. The weather was kind for
every visit quite an achevement in February.
Gelli uchaf, Rhydcymarau, Carmarthenshire
www.thegardenimpressionists.com
National Botanic Garden of Wales
Such a delight on a cold winter's day, to
see in the Great Glashouse such profuse flowering in the
South African section
And in the Tropical House free flying butterflies have
been a great visitor success since their introduction last
summer
They only live a few weeks and are constantly
being replaced. These are chrysalis that will hatch in a day or
so.
www.ashwoodnurseries.com
A unique and exceptionally difficult cross from h.niger
and h.vesicarius, is h. ashwoodensis "Briar Rose". The cross was
made by Kevin Belcher, the long time propagtor at Ashwood's, who is
world famous for his skills
We have seen wonderful snowdrops this year but the best by
far were those in a woodland setting at a Farm near Kidwelly owned
by Jenny a good friend of ours. Extending for about 400 metres
along and up a steep slope, they were simply breathtaking. Totally
natural in a magical setting alongside a river. A superb "snowdrop
lunch" ended a perfect day.
Jenny is almost smothered by them!
And Jan another friend indicates how far up the
slope they go!
Kingston Bagpuize House, Oxfordshire
www.kingstonbagpuizehouse.com
Huge drifts of crocus and leucojums
Leucojum vernum
Followed by even larger drifts of crocus and
winter aconites
Moira in a glade with snowdrops and framed by the
blossom of cornuc mas
Llandysul Winter Gardening Weekend
Richard and I did a talk on our passion for hellebores.
It went down well and one member of the audience labelled us the
new "Morecambe and Wise"!!
Finally a trip down memory lane to Chalford, Glos to
find the house where I spent the first 5 years of my life.
Originally one of a terrace of cotswold stone houses with no mains
services it appears to have been converted to one large house.
Alongside the Thames and Severn Canal and surrounded by deep
countryside it was my introduction to the natural world, the love
of which has stayed with me ever since.
Chalford is a small village in a steep valley with
beautiful old buildings, some of which reflect the industry which
built up alongside the river Frome.
When I was 5 we moved to Stonehouse 8 miles from Chalford, and
once again I wasn't far away from the canal where I fished in a
stretch that has been restored over the last few years
Reflecting on my life it occured to me that I have always lived
in a valley setting, as I do now in the beautiful Towy valley in
Carmarthenshire, which always provides a warm embrace and a
feeeling of comfort and security, surrounded by nature and the
gardens wich we both love so much.. Such pleasure in the simple
things of life.