A fine February
Thursday, February 28, 2013
At last, after a wait of almost a year, a long, dry and settled
spell of weather!! Who cares it has been cold at times and often
dull? It is so good to be able to plan jobs a week ahead and
actually get them done! Full scale weeding completed (for the time
being), all the dead herbaceous haulm cut back and carted
with some wonderful bonfires - not politically correct but who
cares - nothing beats a good burn up at the end of a long day just
as the stars come out. A couple of garden visits and a successful
Llandysul Winter Gardening Weekend squeezed in amongst all the
essential tasks.
The stage set at Llndysul; this plus a full programme of
talks and a good range of stalls makes for a very pleasant day out
- and all completely free!!
Weather
!2 nights of frost with a minimum of -5C and a daytime max of
12C. Rain in the earlier part of the month gave way to a mostly
north easterly airstream from mid month. In my experience of livlng
here for 37 years, February and March at Cilgwyn have often been
our driest and most settled time of the year, especially when our
weather comes from the east. Hope we don't pay for it later on this
year.
Garden Update
Apart from all the work done in the borders, it has been a busy
time in the nursey and polytunnels with many herbaceous plants
coming into early growth. Most of those in pots under cover are
already starting to grow away strongly which means an early start
to potting on or splitting larger plants. In my experience it
nevers pays to do this until there is clear evidence of good
growth. Moira has made a start on this time consuming task which
will take most of March to complete.
The garden clear up in the final stages with
haulms ready to be carted
The cold frames with plants bursting into life - note
the new frame!!
Seed sowing and pricking out continues apace with over 150
packets of seed now sown from a variety of sources. I was so
pleased earlier this month to be able to obtain seeds of
hemerocallis crosses made by members of the American Hemerocallis
Society. This is a very generous gesture on the part of gardening
friends "across the pond" costing nothing to fortunate members of
the British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society. If the success I have
had with seed obtained in 2010 is replicated this year I will be
delighted. There is such a wide gene pool in North America with
over 55,000 registered cultivars and far better ripening conditions
for seed, that there are bound to be some unique treasures lurking
in those packets I lovingly sowed last week. There are some
incredible names given to the cultivars and I particularly liked a
cross of "Spoken in Parables" X "Rooted in Love". Such
imagination!!
The February update. Time for pricking out
soon.
What's looking good?
At present nothing can rival the hellebores which are having a
great year. In the woodland garden and especially the Beech Hedge
Walk they are putting on a tremendous show never looking better
than when they are backlit by low evening which takes them to
another level. If you can it always pays to plant them to create
this effect. I have some good 3 year old plants in pots flowering
for the first time in a good range of colours and forms and
some promisingly strong 1 and 2 year old plants coming on well for
the next few years. They reward such patience as it is 3 years from
seed to flower.
A wonderful lemon anemone centred form, the most
difficult cross to make successfully.
Commercial interest seems to have moved towards helleborus x
ericsmithii cultivars in a continually impressive flower colour and
leaf range. They can currently be found in all good nurseries
and garden centres.This is the result of a complex 3 way cross
between species forms of h. argutifolious, h. lividus and h.niger,
first made by the legendary Eric Smith who in the 1960's and 1970's
ran the Plantsmens Nursery in Dorset with the late Jim
Archibald.
Snowdrops have flowered for a long time this year and from our
recent trip to the Cotswolds are much earlier here. They have
clumped up quickly in the Beech Hedge Walk since being transplanted
just a couple of years ago. Some pulmonaris are out and the odd
hepaticas too, which don't do particularly well for me.
A treasured hepatica nobilis one of a whole range of the
ranuncullacea family in bloom in early spring (think also
hellebores, celandines, anemones, clematis and aquilegias to name
but a few)
No daffodils yet but the first ones are not far off. They are
later than last year. A shrub doing well at the moment is cornus
mas which is plastered in blossom looking remarkably like an acacia
but having the benefit of being bone hardy. There is a scent but it
is not overpowering.
Cornus mas in bloom.
On the veg. front we are still harvesting leeks, late sprouts
(Titus) and Tundra and Alaske cabbage. Picked the last of the sweet
peppers today - look at the pic if you don't believe me.
Always something nice to see in the polytunnels too. Stars are
the Belarina hybrid double primroses
This one is called tangerine and has a lovely bicoloured
effect as the bloom ages
Wildlife and countryside
My "pet" robin (probably one of several in the gardens but
please let me live the dream!) is everywhere I go. Since his new
found fame he prefers to be called rob i am - he has told me that
he was at the forefront of social media because he and his
predecessors have been tweeting for many years. He spends many
hours in the polytunnels enjoying the warmth, the regular supply of
cheese destined for the mousetraps and listening to the classical
music on the radio. Tweeting again comes in handy as he joins in
with his favourite tunes (a bit like me!). Although small he is
willing to help with tasks around the property.
rob.i.am helping to get the coal in!! (looking for worms
more like - and he found some at the bottom of the
pile!!)
Elsewhere there are lambs aplenty with no signs of the deforming
disease that was predicted which is good news for my farmer
neighbours. In the skies there are still plenty of kites but also
more buzzards than I have seen for some years. The current stars
are star -lings which have been gathering for the dusk aerial
diplays which are one of the winter wonders in the natural history
world. It's not just the flying displays but the noise they make
with their wings and the murmering sound they make almost
constantly.
Just as impressive on the ground a large flock of
starlings searches for worms in the recently spread
manure.
No frogs as yet probably because of the lack of rain and frosty
nights but there is just one small patch of spawn in the paddock
pond. As usual they will suddenly appear from nowhere.
Visits
We have been on the road this month with talks in Swansea and on
the Gower and at the annual Llandysul Winter Gardening Weekend -
all very enjoayable and more to come in March.
Yours truly in lecture mode at Reynaldston Gardening
Club - topic Hellebores what a surprise!
We have also visited a few gardens the most amazing being at
Gelli Uchaf, Rhydcemaerau a few miles away from us. Julian and
Fiona the owners are fellow NGS openers and we have been wanting to
visit for some time. We weren't disappointed; a superb woodland
area with hellebores, reticulata iris and early scilla in perfect
harmony raised to another level by the scent of numerous daphne
bholua thriving in an environment ideally suited to their
demanding requirements. 11 acres of diverse habitats to explore
with far reaching views Everywhere we went there was something to
grab attention, including 100+ varieties of snowdrops, a wall of
used car tyres containg flowers, fruit and vegetables - a novel
take on raised beds - and some inventive organic ways of heating a
large greenhouse.
Add to that a 17C Welsh longhouse, a gallery of fine artwork and
a fascinating insight into moths of the UK which are a speciality
of Julian and Fiona, a really interesting and original couple. If
you want to see a very different and highly idiosyncratic garden
and for more information visit their website at www.thegardenimpressionists.wordpress.com
Great blogs too!
The woodland garden with reticulata iris and scillas in
a pleasing colour combination backed up by carfully selected dark
hellebores.
The Welsh longhouse
We also went to Old Rectory, Duntisbourne Rous, near
Cirencester, Glos the home of Mary Keen, the well known garden
writer and her husband Charles, which is one of the earliest
gardens to open each year for the National Gardens Scheme, which is
always risky. With snow and severe frosts on the Cotswold
escarpment for some weeks the garden was not as advanced as it
would usually be. However the setting is magical as are the views
down the valley and the adjacent old church. There was a warm
welcome, good conversation and a lovely log fire to take tea
by.
The view across the garden to the church
Finally a few lines from Rudyard Kipling I read the other day
which for me sum up all the hope that gardening can bring at the
start of each year:
"So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and
pray,
For the glory of the garden, that it may not pass
away"
Happy Gardening!!