My Little Garden 18th Feb 2023
There’s been a bit of everything in terms of the weather this week. Some cold mornings with a light frost, some welcome sunshine, and a bit of wind and rain in the second half of the week. Mostly, it has meant that the garden is coming along nicely, with more bulbs opening up daily and the first brave pollinators venturing out to enjoy the delights of the crocus in the moments of sun.
Regardless of what the weather has done, I’ve been mainly working indoors, wrapped up warm because the kitchen refit is still ongoing and there’s no point putting the heating on, even for the colder days. It’s that time of year when I’m putting together plant spreadsheets for the purchases to come. The planting plans I do in autumn all tend to be in draft form because I need to check the availability of some of the plants. With the majority of the perennials, I tend to look at the trade list supplied by Bluebell Cottage Gardens, so that I know what will be ready by the end of April or early May. One of the planting jobs I have lined up has a very strict budget, so a spreadsheet helps enormously. I’ve also bought the winter interest shrubs whilst they are in the garden centres at a reasonable price, and I’m ‘borrowing’ one of them for my Six on Saturday choices.
- Crocus
First of the week is the crocus. The ones in pots called Jeanne d’Arc are still a work in progress, but the more established ones in the borders are coming along nicely.
2. Harmony in the borders
Harmony in the form of Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’ that is.
3. Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’ stems
Purchased for a client for a very reasonable price in my local garden centre, it is currently gracing my garden. I’m all for borrowed plants.
4. Sleepy hoverfly
This little one was dividing his time between snowdrops and the open crocus in the sunny part of the garden.
5. Snowdrop
I was given a small clump of Galanthus plicatus ‘Wendy’s Gold’ at the end of last winter, and I have three flowers. I really love this snowdrop, and I’m so happy it’s settling in.
6. Hellebore
This is Ice ‘n Roses that I misnamed the other week and is currently the best-looking hellebore in the garden.
And that’s it for another six on Saturday. As always, there are lots more blogs and photo collections to be found on Twitter or via The Six on Saturday blog of Jim our leader https://gardenruminations.co.uk/
Have a great weekend.
