How time flies, eh? It has been seven months since I last blogged, which is rather shameful. What can I tell you? I’ve been busy. Anyway, here it is with a few familiar favourites for you.
- Crocus. I am much more attracted to Crocus than Snowdrops. I love their brightness and cheering qualities. I think they are the more beautiful too. Don’t get me wrong, I like Snowdrops and find their generosity very useful, but you won’t get me freaking out over tiny differences and spending silly money on rare examples. I will do that for records, but not for Snowdrops. Anyway, here are some that have multiplied beautifully in the graveyard (pale Tommasinianus?) with an early visitor, Tricolour in a crevice added last year and a patch of Tommasinianus that local residents planted all along my road.
2. Hellebore, Anna’s Red. I went to a talk at The Chelsea Physic Garden last Sunday (recommended) by Edward Flint. He loves Hellebores and spoke a lot about the various strains and their purity. He made me rather ashamed of my muddy seedlings, enough to fork out for this one.
3. Behind a gravestone on the South Bed the Paeony is rising. This looks a bit like a police line-up shot. I love foliage before anything is awake enough to nibble it.
4. Inspired by a recent Gardens Illustrated article, I have been tying up any roses I can get hold of. This one is Rambling Rector in my yard. The idea is you tie stems very tightly together. I have done that. Let’s see what the storm does to it tomorrow!
5. So, I planted some Coronilla valentina in this planter last year and it has been flowering away really nicely all Winter. I think the council noticed and went to look for a salt container in the same shade to place next to it. Then someone tagged it. And left a coffee cup. Nice.
6. Cyclamen coum. Self seeding plants are so useful. These have been in rough grass on a bank for years and have seeded around really nicely. I am going to dig some up and move them around in April. If I remember.