At last we
have seen an end to excessive rainfall. The weather lately, although
colder, has been very drying and our mud has disappeared rapidly. The
farmer next to us has even cultivated some land, quite remarkable how
quickly things can change.
The late
winter has brought out the earliest flowering plants – Vincas being
a good example. The Vinca
difformis AGM
(RHS
Award of Garden Merit)
and
its varieties have been flowering for weeks and show no sign of
stopping. Vinca
major oxyloba (syn. Dartington Star) is a lovely dark violet
blue and is about to flower, excellent ground cover under trees.
Iris
unguicularis AGM is another gem for this time of year. Its
big pale blue flowers nestling in leaves looks too fragile to be
real.
The early flowering Clematis
montanas are starting to leaf and in a sheltered spot in the
garden one has quite big flower buds. At the moment we have a range
of varieties in 9 cm pots. We will be potting these on into 2 litre
pots any time soon, so if you want to purchase these do so now or
there will be a gap before the new crop is ready.
We are appreciating our shelter hedges with the chill
easterly blowing, especially our lovely Viburnum
tinus Lucidum, which is still flowering away with its big
heads of fragrant white flowers not being put off by the cold.
On the theme of big white flowers the Russian
Vine - Fallopia baldschuanicum has large heads of small
individual flowers which are impressive. Most impressive is this
plants ability to grow in front line coastal conditions.
Now is the time to prune down grasses like Hakonechloa
and Miscanthus
that may have been left for winter interest. If they are not
pruned now the new growth may get damaged when done later.
In warm (relatively!) areas the Grevilleas
are good winter flowering evergreens and although a bit exotic
looking are not as tender as they look. They need sun to ripen wood
for the rigours of winter, good drainage and shelter from cold winds.
Not suitable for chalky soils.
Standing outside here on the nursery is a batch of
plants that look very good and about to flower. Ribes
speciosum makes a good spiny shrub and would easily deter the
“postie” taking a short cut or good when trained on a wall. The
bright red tubular flowers hang down from the branches rather like
Fuchsia flowers.
Viburnum
x burkwoodii AGM has held its flower buds through the winter
and they are now expanding and starting to show colour. They are pink
in bud and white when open. Gorgeous fragrance.
