The cold hard winter continues
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
It is exactly 8 years since we first launched our website, in a
similarly cold and very snowy winter, memorable for the lowest
temperatures we have ever recorded here. It is interesting to read
through all the posts we have made since then and to note that
although we no longer open the garden, however much things change,
the more they stay the same, with the exception of my cancer which
has plagued me for the last 2 years. I continue to have
chemotherapy in the hope that my condition will improve. I will use
the website to periodically update readers about my progress, but
otherwise as always, our intention is to inform our many readers
about what is going on in the gardens, the plants we grow and the
joys of country life.
At times it can be difficult to find original topics to
write about especially in a challenging month like this February
has been, but one event was definitely a first for us. It isn't
very often that we experience an earthquake in South Wales! Over a
hundred years to be precise. Sadly I missed it as I was 30 miles
away at the Winter Gardening Weekend. Moira was at home however and
likened the tremors to being hit by an aircraft, Fortunately no
damage was done but it took us 24 hours to realise that it was an
earthquake! - thanks to the local Press. It was rated as 4.4 on the
Richter Scale
The map shows by a black arrow the epicentre and
by a black cross the relative position of Cilgwyn
Lodge.
There is a fault line running from Swansea Bay northwards
along the coalfield to the Black Mountain and at its epicentre is
the village of Cwmllynfell which gives its name to the fault
line.
The previous earthquake occurred in 1906 and was 5.2 in
magnitude Unlike the current eathquake it did cause some
damage across a wide section of west Wales
Weather
For the most part it has been a snowy month
becoming more severe as the month has progressed. Particularly
notable for strong persistent south easterly gales
Min -9C on 28/2, 18 consecutive nights of
frost
No single day time temperature above
7.8 highest on 8/2
5 Rain days 1.6" rain recorded all
month
There was thick snow on the Powys Black Mountains
for most of the month
Garden Update
It has been too cold at times for me to get out and do essential
weeding chores which has not been easy given the frosted soil. Most
work has been concentrated in the warmth of the tunnels with seeds
to sow and plants to pot on. Cuttings of pelargoniums taken in
early January have struck very well and are growing away strongly.
It is the earliest I have taken them
All month it has felt that that the garden has battened down the
hatches and like the rest of us is waiting for the prospect of
spring. This is particularly evident in regard to daffodils of
which just a very few are in flower. "February Gold" is always an
early one for us but it has remained resolutely in bud.
Euphphorbia characias with no signs of flower
makes a lovely picture with its coating of snow
An upside is that the cold weather has extended the season of
snowdrops, hellebores and cyclamen coum some of which appear to be
struggling for lack of water, especially those which have been
planted in the last few weeks.
A nice surprise in the Beech Hedge walk was this self
sown hybrid hellebore which appears to have come from a species
form called h. purpurascens of which we have several forms in this
part of the garden
An unusual helleborus hybridus from Farmyard Nurseries,
part of a breeding programme from some years ago to produce flowers
like a Fritillary
A problem this year has been the destruction of
emerging hellebore flowers by rodents which eat the nectaries.
Lighter coloured forms are particularly susceptible to these
attacks
We have lost so many flowers in the woodland area
alongside the road that there are few left. Pulmonarias have come
to the rescue!
What's looking good?
No surprise that there isn't a great deal to admire! I
have mentioned in previous news items my admiration for the growing
range of hellebores in the "EricSmithii" section, particularly
those in the "Rodney Davey Marbled Group" some so recently
introduced that they do not feature in the 2017 "RHS Plant Finder"
Thanks to a tip off from a friend we fortunately came across
a local garden centre which had a good choice of cultivars at
reasonable prices.
They don't appear to be everyone's taste, perhaps
because there isn't a wide colour range, but they are tall robust
plants with intricately patterned leaves. "Pippas Purple" on
the left, "Annas Red" in the middle and "Sally's Shell" on the
right
They look good planted together
A scene familiar to hellebore growers in winter -
a sharp frost flattens them but within a few hours they are back
again
Flowers take on a different sheen when backlit by the
sun.
In the January News I posted pictures of a mystery
snowdrop we have had in the garden for a long time under the
misapplied name of "Pusey Green Tips" but have not been able to
name correctly. Several readers were kind enough to offer
suggestions of what it might be, which can be quite difficult from
pictures alone, Sadly none of them turned out to match closely the
mystery snowdrop.. I was able to verify this with galanthophile
friends who had the suggested forms in their own
collections
What appears to be the defining issue is the green
markings on the inner petals which are substantially
different from all the others we have seen.
We have been particularly grateful to our friend Julian
Wormald who has done a great deal of research for us and trawled
the galanthus forums
Latterly another friend Richard Williams from the HPS
called to see the main plant and brought a selection of similar
green tipped g. elwesii cultivars and hybrids for
comparison
There are numerous named green tipped forms all of which seem to
stem from galanthus elwesii caucasicus but none have those tell
tale interior green markings
Wildlife and countryside
Lambing season is now in full swing, most of our neighbours now
lamb in barns to avoid the losses that can occur when lambing
outdoors. Nothing lifts your spirits like a field full of lambs
gambolling together and enjoying their short lives.
In a mild, moist spell of weather mid month, the frogs returned
to the Paddock Pond for the annual ritual, as always their presence
is given away by the loud croaking they make which can be heard 100
yards away from the house, a sound like a distant train. Next
morning masses of spawn on the surface of the pond showed how busy
they had been. Sadly within a couple of days the cold weather came
and all the embryo eggs in the spawn were frosted A few sometimes
survive to hatch
Badly frozen frogspawn
And in the middle of the frozen pond is the
evidence of the otter predation last November with numerous large
upturned waterlilies showing just how powerful this king predator
is.
Starlings are ever presents in the fields but never in
sufficient quantaties to set up the sort of mass murmurations you
often see along the coast or large upland areas. There was however
in the middle of a snowstorm a murmuration with a difference - a
black and white form!
Visits
The Winter Gardening Weekend in Llandysul was the usual
enjoyable event, very well attended over the 3 days with talks,
plenty of plants and crafts for sale and best of all perhaps the
chance to meet up with many friends we have not seen for a
long time, some from as far away as Mid and West Wales,
Herefordshire and Cardiff.
The stage display arranged by Richard Bramley of
Farmyard Nurseries is always a highlight and every year he manages
to come up with something different
Richard and some of his team take a well earned
refreshment break at the end of a long day
Finally and an early date for your diaries, after
an absence of some years, Farmyard Nurseries will be attending RHS
Flower Show Cardiff in Bute Park, Cardiff Castle, Cardiff CF10 1BJ
from 13 -15 April. Richard will be setting up a show garden
alongside the wide range of plants he will have for
sale.