The weather has been unseasonably
warm this winter and, although we’ve had some hard frosts (down to -3.5 deg C
this morning), we’ve had very few of them so far and December was one of the
warmest on record. We’ve not yet had a period of sustained hard frosts night
after night, so I think the tender plants which would normally have been killed
off, have managed to recover and keep going.
This has resulted in some odd plants
in flower. I counted 11 yesterday, including some that should really be
sheltering underground for a few months yet. I’m sure we’ll get a cold snap and
there will be some plants caught out. I don’t know what this will mean to them
later on.
These are the flowers I have:
Geranium – this certainly shouldn’t
be alive, yet alone in flower. A few years back I thought I might get a
geranium to stay in flower until Christmas, but a sharp frost took them all
out. Not so these; I’m now wondering if they will keep going through winter
into spring. I took most of the bedding geraniums out in late October, but
there was a group of plants in a large terracotta pot that were looking very
fine, so I left them in. They have been a little burned and the foliage has
changed colour and hardened up, but there are still small red flowers on all of
the plants. If I’d had a greenhouse, I think all my geraniums could have been
overwintered under glass this year.
Lobelia – this is the most
surprising to me. It has been a very good year for lobelia and I’m not sure if
these are new varieties or whether it was just good growing conditions. The
plants seemed to flower for a much sustained period. Normally, there’s a flush
of flowers and then the plants stop flowering and dies back. What I’ve done
previously is to cut away the dead flowers and the plant would then have a
second growth spurt and a second flush of flowers. This year, the lobelia has flowered
without pause and I’ve also had plants self-seeding in lots of different
locations, including cracks in the patio. One lobelia (in the same pot as the
geraniums) had defied the frost and is continuing to flower. It’s not a lush
plant that you’d expect to see during the summer, but it has managed to keep
going and it does have blue flowers on right now.
Honeysuckle – I have an evergreen
variety growing up the fence by the patio. It does flower late and you do get
the odd flower in winter during a mild spell. This year, the leaves are looking
very lush, it’s made some significant winter growth and there are lots of
flowers.
Vinca (periwinkle) – I have a
less-vigorous, variegated variety under the conifer trees by the patio and this
has had two or three small blue flowers on the plants right through December.
They were looking very healthy and pretty this weekend. I think the vinca
normally flowers in early spring.
Snowdrop – not unusual to see
snowdrops flower in January and we have clumps coming up all over the garden. I
was taken by one small clump, which was a month ahead of all the others.
Flowers were showing before Christmas and, this weekend; it was in full bloom
with the green and white flowers fully open. When you look at them closely
snowdrops are a lovely flower with a complex petal arrangement and intricate
markings. It’s a shame they hang their heads and we can’t more easily admire
their flowers.
Primula – I’d expect to have some
primulas out and so I have. They would be much better if Holly hadn’t decided
to use my biggest patch of them as her preferred toilet area! Those I have in
boxes at the bottom of the garden only have one or two in flower, but they’ve
used the mild weather to make good growth and there are big flower buds formed
on all plants. Unless we get a spell of very cold weather, they will be a real
show in a few weeks’ time.
Hellebore – this is, of course,
called the Lenten Rose but my examples are always out before Lent. Last
summer’s foliage has now either died back or been cut away and the flower stems
are shooting up out of the ground most enthusiastically. I have quite a lot of
hellebores, almost all self-seeded from one plant, but we have a nice range of
colours from creamy green to pink. Some of the colours available on plants I’ve
seen in the nursery this autumn are quite spectacular, but they do tend to be
rather expensive.
Pansy – winter pansies are about the
one plant (apart from snowdrops) which I would expect to see. They’ve been more
damaged by wind breaking them than by cold this winter and we’ve had a decent
show of colour from all the pots. I bought a few boxes of a purple and mauve
variety – quite unusual and very showy. They should keep going well into early
summer.
Crocus – Just one creamy white
crocus with a beautiful deep orange stamen was in bloom this weekend. Some
afternoon sun on Sunday saw it open up. There are others not far behind, but
this is the first.
Cyclamen – these are coming to an
end now having been in flower for a couple of months.
Delphinium – not strictly in flower,
but it is in bud. It’s a new plant, grown from seed in late summer. Some of its
siblings managed to bloom in the late autumn, but this clearly thinks it is
spring and has made good growth and a healthy flower spike bud. I’m pretty sure
it won’t flower (it must get burned by the frost) but you never know.
Catkins – they are sort of flowers
and the corkscrew hazel is covered with them. I am planning to cut the tree
back quite drastically this winter so they will be thinned out by me. We had a
big crop of hazelnuts on it last autumn. Gravel was picking them out of the
border and cracking the shells in his teeth to get to the nuts, which were
quite nice. My sister Margaret picked up a lot which fell into her garden and
she used them in a stuffing which she brought round on Christmas day.
Last, but not least, I should
mention the hybrid tea rose in Margaret’s garden. It’s a very vigorous pink
variety and has been carrying a decent number of flowers right through the
winter.
After two really hard winters, I’m
quite pleased to have had it easy so far. We’ll probably have the coldest
February on record … that would teach all these ‘early birds’.
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