End of February round up

Posted Wed 28 February 2018 in garden

A mixed month with a few warm days and some very cold days. It seems to have been less wet than last year overall. I've been preparing to plant up later by removing shrubs that I don't like and all the self-seeded cotoneasters in the back corners. The Pyracantha has had a bit of a trim as have the Cotoneasters in the other corner.

Flowering

What's been in flower during Feburary with some pictures, most of which have appeared in earlier blogs.

Cyclamen - new this year

Winter aconite bought in flower this year.

The Snowdrops were planted last year, and the primrose is new this year. I'm quite pleased with the snowdrops as there are a few small clumps dotted around which will hopefully expand in future years.

Hellebore

Of course the Winter Jasmine is still in flower too.

Shoots

There are shoots from the following: Allium, Anemone, Bluebell, Brunnera, Centaurea, Crocus, Daffodil, Eryngium, Lysimachia punctata, Muscari, Rudbeckia

Snow

On the 6th it snowed all morning, but then it immediately warmed up and it started melting from the afternoon so there was very little left by the next day.

Late night on the 26th it started snowing with an even cover by the morning. More snow on the following days, building up to around 10 deep snow in the garden. The cold spell is ongoing and more snow is expected.

I have a number of plants in small pots waiting to be planted in the spring. Since it was going to be bellow freezing for several days I decided to put them in the garage for the duration. Not sure if this was a good idea or not, they are still completely frozen solid and covered with most of the snow that they were already buried under.

The forecast temperatures for the area were down to -5C with the last two days not going above zero. I should get an outdoor thermometer to see if how this matches actual temperatures in the garden.

The snowdrops, primroses and indeed all the plants in flower apart from the Winter jasmine are burried under the snow.

New plants

I made two mail orders, see the previous article for the first to arrive from Penlan perennials. The other order will not arrive until later in spring.

The other purchases were:

• Helleborus
• Pulmonaria 'Trevi fountain' - this has been planted, it has a few small leaves but not really worth a photo yet.
• Brunnera 'Looking glass' - still in its pot
• Winter aconite 1L
• Penstemon seeds - not planted
• Gladioli 'blue mountain' bulbs - not planted

Posted by Steve