January 30th 2016

Over 30 plants are flowering!

We live just a few hundred yards from the River Severn, but we haven’t been flooded – luckily. Regardless of the rain, I’ve continued cutting back the perennials in the borders. Many plants have started into growth, including one delphinium that’s around 15cm(6in) tall.  With colder weather forecast, I’ve piled garden compost around it and hope it won’t be damaged.  It’s surprising how many plants are coming into flower. I recently walked round the garden and listed every plant that had a flower, and was amazed that there were over 30!  The hellebores are just coming into bloom, with Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose, looking particularly beautiful. The first snowdrops are out, along with early flowering daffodils, Iris reticulata, Cyclamen coum and lovely orange flowered Hamamelis intermedia ‘Feuerzauber’. Daffodil bulbs planted in pots by the front door are well advanced.  The unheated greenhouse is full of overwintering scented leaf pelargoniums.  I have plenty of fleece on hand to cover them as the weather turns colder, and will bring the pots of cuttings into the house to ensure some survive.  I’ve mulched most of the borders with a thick layer of compost, but the lawn is currently too wet to withstand barrowloads of compost being wheeled over. I’ll finish this job when conditions improve.  We’ve cut down the autumn fruiting raspberries and my husband has spent an afternoon pruning the wisteria.  Part of it had rotted through so the stem had to be sawn out and the dead growth disentangled from the rest.  Come spring, it will be ready to romp away again!