Winter Wonderland
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
What a delight to have some snow as Christmas festivities were
beginning build up; all day it came on Sunday 10th to a depth of 3
inches (not as much as many parts of Wales) followed by some sharp
frosts over 5 nights. As usual in the final news item of the year
it can be difficult to find enough topics to write about and
sufficient photo opportunties but not this year. Although the snow
was very wet no damage was caused to plants or structures in the
garden but the netting on the fruit cage was hanging precariously
for a few days!
Every time we have a good snowfall my thoughts go back to
1963 which if you are of a certain age, you will remember as
one of the most severe in our living memory, lasting for 3 months
It was then I came across for the first time, a poem by Robert
Bridges called "London Snow": highly evocative for his
well chosen words to express the magic of snowfall, the same
experience whether it be in the metropolis or the Welsh countryside
(minus all the traffic of course!) To read the poem go
to www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45977/london-snow
Weather Up to and including 19th Dec
Snow cover for 5 days
10 frosts min -9C on 12th, no days above 9C which was the
max on 3 occasions. 6 raindays, Sun
on 7 days.
Garden update and what is looking good?!
One of the good things about lying snow is that it hides all the
jobs that are waiting to be done all over the garden!
Sedum seedheads create a lovely structure when
covered in snow- one of the benefits of not cutting back herbaceous
perennials too soon
As soon as it cleared the first priority was to cut off all the
old leaves from the 250+ hellebores which by this time of year are
starting to look very tatty. It isn't absolutely essential of
course and it doesn't happen in the wild, but if you pay up to £20
or even more for some of your best hellebores you want to show them
at their best. There are other reasons too, such as to reduce the
spread of blackspot from the leaves to the flowers and to give more
space for border companions like snowdops and cyclamen coum to
reach their full potential. One final reason I discovered by
chance a few years ago when I didn't cut off the leaves; is they
provide cover for rodents to completely destroy the emerging flower
buds which are poisonous but it doesn't seem to put them off.
That year we lost about half our potential flowers.
Many wheelbarrow loads to cart away
I am always glad of a helping hand in the garden but Kit
Kat hasn't yet got the idea of the wheelbarrow!
Once the leaves are cut off new buds are soon
revealed
There are already a few hellebores in bloom, the
earliest being h.liguricus, a species from Northern Italy. it
has the additional benefit of being lightly scented on warmer days.
H.cyclophyllus and h, odorus are 2 other scented forms but later
into bloom.
This white helleborus x hybridus is the first of
the large flowered forms in bloom. As usual h. niger (the so called
Christmas Rose) rarely ever flowers in time for the event and this
year is no exception.
Plenty of snowdrop pips showing through especially this
early galanthus elwesii cross which no one has yet been able to
name for me. Look out for the January news to see the flowers and
your identification would be very welcome by e-mai. Some lucky
friends were gifted with bulbs last spring in the hope they may be
able to come up with a name! and to keep the strain
alive.
At this time of year there is always a very early stand
of daffodils in a friends garden just down the lane. They came to
them in a mixed bag of un named bulbs and my guess is that they can
only be n. "Rijnveld's Early Sensation"
The other main job left in all the borders is to remove
all the metal stakes and to cut back the spent foliage, which aways
reveals a massive amount of weeding to be done!
Our winter nemesis is always the dreaded
bittercress, just one of the many large patches that need urgent
attention
Winter hardy vegetables can cope with cold spells of
weather: parsnips in the ground, swedes and sprouts all
sweeten up as the starches turn to sugar, and leeks seem totally
indestructable as are stalwart cabbages like savoys which are a
favourite of ours matched only by the first of the "sweetheart"
type late spring cabbage.
When there is so little freshness in the gardens,
the tunnels are the best place to be especially the
succulents
Wildlife and countryside
In a cold and frosty month it was very much a case of
winter creeps, nature sleeps, with one notable exception. An
unwelcome nightime visit to the Paddock Pond by an otter or otters.
Scales on the bank and the large tail section of one of our few
carp gave the game away as did upturned water lilies. I have seen
otters occasionally especially early in the morning and they are
large, powerful beasts that will keep coming back to the pond night
after night, The only way of stopping them is to put up the
electric fence which stays in place until the spring. As we have a
visit every early winter I should have learned by now to put the
fence up sooner!!
By a pure coincidence the following day there was
an article in a national newspaper about one of the finest carp
fisheries in Britain that has had hoardes of otters visit its large
lakes filled with specimen fish up to 70 lb and far in excess of
that in £'s sterling. There was a controlled otter release
programme some years ago in the part of Kent where the fisheries
are sited, without too much consideration given to the impact
upon the surrounding wildlife. A stout fence at great expense was
the only way to keep the otters at bay. Fancy all this lot visiting
your ponds. It put our minor problem into stark
contrast.
A much more welcome visitor creating a classic Christmas
card scene!
Just before the snow melted we took a trip east along
the A 40 corridor to see the Brecon Beacons at their wintry
best.
And in Abergavenny the cleared snow in this car park was
4 feet tall!
Well friends another year comes to an end and from a gardening
perspective it wasn't the best of years, but when you are living
with cancer as I have been for almost 2 years, you take
everything that comes your way, and just to
still be here is a good enough reason to rejoice. Next
month for the first time I have elected to have treament with a
course of chemotherapy which could slow down the recent progression
of the cancer and improve my overall condition. I can however still
put in a shift in the garden, albeit slower than previously, and I
hope to be able to look forward to spring and my beloved hellebores
and all the other pleasures of that special time of year, and
the hope of new life returning to the gardens.
To finish on a brighter note, Christmas wreaths on the
Farmyard Nurseries market stall in Carmarthen are always a
highlight throughout the month, all made at the nursery to a very
high standard
And a rather tipsy snowman at the Penpont Estate near
Sennybridge where we always buy our Christmas tree every
year.
Moira and I wish you an enjoyable Christmas, and the best of
health and happiness in 2018. Thanks for reading our website news
every month, and for the kind comments that we receive from time to
time. I will do my best to keep it going, and look
forward to many newsworthy items to share with you.
Keith and Moira XX