The post I'm about to put together really is a rushed job. Two reasons for that, the first is that I'm having a little away day tomorrow with a couple of gardening friends and since it will be dark when I get up and dark when I get home - there will be little chance of getting some pictures together. The second, here's me in a hurry to get some shots of what's in flower and realise the battery in the camera is as dead as a dodo! Just as a watched pot never boils - uncharged batteries don't replenish themselves as quickly as you'd like. With light fading fast, cloud coming in, rain threatening and wind battering almost everything around - I stood little chance of getting decent pictures.
Unlike most of you putting together some wonderfully written blogs this Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, mines is rather short and sweet - a bit like myself, eh, maybe not! Short, certainly but sweet, I doubt that would be an adjective used to describe me, EVER! However, all is not lost, there's lots more to see over at May Dream Gardens where Carol hosts the Garden Blogger's Bloom Day meme on the 15th of every month. I'm just a few hours early and I will get round to linking and reading on Sunday.
It was nigh on impossible to get a decent picture of snowdrops today. I have no named varieties growing in the garden. All are plain old Galanthus nivalis - with a few doubles thrown in for good measure. Every snowdrop growing in my garden was rescued last year from a garden that was about to be covered in concrete - the elderly lady who lives there needed her path widened and an access ramp put in. These little beauties would have otherwise been ripped out. I jumped at the chance to rehome them. I divided up the large sized clumps and planted the smaller clumps around the garden in the hope that they will naturalise and spread around.
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Everyday is a school day isn't it. A common name for Snowdrops I had never heard before was Fair Maids of February - they are indeed this February. I found this verse which really does sum up the weather here right now.
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Unlike most of you putting together some wonderfully written blogs this Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, mines is rather short and sweet - a bit like myself, eh, maybe not! Short, certainly but sweet, I doubt that would be an adjective used to describe me, EVER! However, all is not lost, there's lots more to see over at May Dream Gardens where Carol hosts the Garden Blogger's Bloom Day meme on the 15th of every month. I'm just a few hours early and I will get round to linking and reading on Sunday.
It was nigh on impossible to get a decent picture of snowdrops today. I have no named varieties growing in the garden. All are plain old Galanthus nivalis - with a few doubles thrown in for good measure. Every snowdrop growing in my garden was rescued last year from a garden that was about to be covered in concrete - the elderly lady who lives there needed her path widened and an access ramp put in. These little beauties would have otherwise been ripped out. I jumped at the chance to rehome them. I divided up the large sized clumps and planted the smaller clumps around the garden in the hope that they will naturalise and spread around.
Everyday is a school day isn't it. A common name for Snowdrops I had never heard before was Fair Maids of February - they are indeed this February. I found this verse which really does sum up the weather here right now.
FEBRUARY fair maids,
All along the lane,
Dancing with the breezes,
Nodding to the rain,
Whispering tales of Springtime
Through the snow and sleet,
February fair maids,
Brave and bright and sweet.
All along the lane,
Dancing with the breezes,
Nodding to the rain,
Whispering tales of Springtime
Through the snow and sleet,
February fair maids,
Brave and bright and sweet.
February fair maids,
Soon you'll disappear,
Soon the swallow's twitter
Tells that Spring is here.
Soon the rose and lily
Laugh 'neath skies of blue
February fair maids,
None so brave as you.
Soon you'll disappear,
Soon the swallow's twitter
Tells that Spring is here.
Soon the rose and lily
Laugh 'neath skies of blue
February fair maids,
None so brave as you.
February fair maids,
Dancing down the lane,
Bowing to the breezes,
Smiling at the rain,
Lifting laughing faces
Through the snow and sleet–
February fair maids,
Brave and bright and sweet.
Dancing down the lane,
Bowing to the breezes,
Smiling at the rain,
Lifting laughing faces
Through the snow and sleet–
February fair maids,
Brave and bright and sweet.
by Norah M Holland (1876-1925)
The hellebores are just about coming into their own - a few will be the first time they have flowered in the garden. Plugs plants bought back in 2011. They have now reached flowering size but are as yet still tightly budded. They were a mix of White Spotted and Red oriental type hybrids.
My favourite Hellebore - Helleborus x ericsmithii Winter Moonbeam is rather fickle. Turning it's first flowers away. Still, lots more to come over the next few weeks. Mental note to self - do not cut out old foliage, it doesn't look nearly as spectacular as it did when it was new last year. Gardening is a learning curve isn't it? That's one mistake I won't make again.
Another Oriental Hybrid, which should have a name but was purchased a while before I realised how useful it would be to keep labels.
Winter flowering Violas and Pansies still doing their bit. I am fair pleased with these Violas and Pansies but boy does it give me concern as to where those pesky slugs have gone. I have visions of them gathering in their masses just beyond the fence waiting to do reek havoc. In years gone by the war against those slimey garden critters always began on Valentine's Day. I am now coming into the 3rd year of using no chemicals in the garden. Perhaps the garden has reached a natural balance and is now taking care of itself. I really would like to think so, time will tell.
Many of the Primula are budding up and starting to look good again, they took a right knocking in the long dry summer. Primula bracteosa is the first to open it's flowers. I almost missed these - Heuchera Obsidian has all but collapsed round about it.
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| Primula bracteosa |
Just in case any of you are interested - here's what Kevock Garden, a reputable nursery and garden to the south of Edinburgh say about it.
The petiolarid primulas (section Petiolares) are classic Himalayan (and Chinese) plants, thriving in cool, damp places (where there is humidity in the air as well as moisture at the roots), and complaining when it is hot and dry. But they are worth every effort to please, including some of the most beautiful and sought-after of all primulas. Many of them produce little seed in cultivation here, and so these ones are propagated by division, which they love, as they flourish in rich soil. Some kinds are evergreen, and make small mats of rosettes, with the mass of flowers at the centres, and others spend the winter as large resting buds, flowers and leaves appearing amazingly early in the year.
The large dutch Crocus are still barely above the soil but the smaller Crocus chrysanthus have been stuck in limbo for what seems like weeks now - they might just flatten before they get a chance to open which would be a shame. They too are naturalising, albeit slowly, around the garden. This little clump will soon be joined by Corydalis, Narcissus and Muscari.
My regular readers will know that here in my garden I've often got the odd plant flowering out of season - back in January it was Lupins, Geums and Heuchera. Those are still holding on and for this month - I was most surprised to find this Eryngium, albeit a bit wintery looking, flowering.
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| Eryngium bourgatii Graham Stuart Thomas |
Now I know many of you will be wondering just where me and my gardening friends are off to tomorrow - we are having a day out for the Early Bulb Show organised and held by the SRGC in Dunblane. I'm hoping there will be plenty of time to get some photos (yes, batteries are now fully charged) to put together a blog and more importantly a chance to purchase some lovely new plants for my garden. My first port of call will be the Snowdrop stalls, I really do fancy a few named varieties and then who knows what will come home with me.
I'd like to end this post to extend my thoughts to all those who are right now experiencing such freaky weather. The situation, particularly in the South of England, is particularly awful right now. Those terrible scenes in news reports is heart breaking and I could not begin to imagine what those poor folks are going through. I do hope there is some respite soon.
What ever you are up to this weekend, stay safe and stay warm!