Below is the list of our favourite plants in the garden in the first half of February 2017. I don’t tend to repeat plants that have featured in the previous fortnight, so it’s an attempt to show how there is always something new in the garden to tempt us out, whatever the weather.
In early February, many of December’s, and January’s stalwarts are even better now, like early snowdrops and Cyclamen coum, so do have a look at the last 3 Plant Palettes. But there are now waves of new flowers appearing quite regularly. Spring is on its way. Well, at least that’s what all this new activity is telling us. And the nadir of late November when flowers are few and far between seems a very long time ago.
I’m gradually trying to update these folders as we move through 2024, to reflect additions and losses, as well as extra photos as shrubs or trees have grown
1: Crocus tommasinianus. Our favourite Crocus for many reasons. Firstly it’s fairly early. Secondly, it’s a prolific self-seeder, if you have a vibrant active early season pollinator force, though in early years when we didn’t, I used to hand pollinate the flowers. Although in some years, the weather defeats them and pollination windows are few and far between. Thirdly compared with many other Crocus, it’s less likely to be eaten by rodents or squirrels. Though I still dribble my super deterrent – male urine – around particularly at flowering time. Fourthly there are some wonderful colour variants, and flowering time ranges if you grow it from seed. I now spend a bit of time every year, around the middle of May looking out for the club-like seed capsules popping up, collecting and saving the seeds, and then scattering them in late summer all around the garden, along the cobbles in front of the house, and into our top hay meadow as well. Where in 2024, they’re at last beginning to pop up.
2: Eranthis hyemalis. The winter aconite is a lovely cheering sight in early February, or sometime late January, amongst snowdrops and Crocus. It does gradually spread by seed, but sadly the seedlings are easily taken out at the cotyledon stage by slugs, so it’s only slowly building up. It’s also said to prefer more alkaline soils than ours. Worth collecting the seed capsules once ripe, and scattering them around the garden, in woodsy areas.
3. Galanthus “Magnet”.
4. Galanthus “Imbolc”
5. Galanthus x valentinei
6. Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer.‘ We bought this as a tiny plant from a specialist garden and propagator of Rhododendron, after visiting on a holiday in Devon many years ago. It’s always our first R into flower, and although never blooming for Christmas, it’s often doing well by early February, and as it increases in size beneath juvenile oak trees, adds a subtle splash of flowers very early in the year.
7. Iris reticulata “Harmony”
8: Crocus chrysanthus “Cream Beauty”
9:Crocus chrysanthus ‘Snow Bunting‘. Another lovely Crocus which will bulk up quickly. However it’s more prone to predation, (a garden visitor pointed this out to us, and we can confirm that mice/voles do seem to prefer C. chrysanthus corms to C. tommasinianus) and it doesn’t set as many seed as C. tommasinianus. One year before I discovered the benefits of (frequently applied) male urine as a deterrent, a rodent trashed many of the corms, so we now use more snowdrops in this area to create a similar effect. C. chysanthus seed from this and ‘cream beauty’ tend to show a wide range of colour forms from white through to yellow.
10:Primula vulgaris. Our native primrose just appeared in the garden from somewhere, and have spread around the garden. Both on their own, and annually by lifting, splitting and re-planting in various parts of the garden. They’ll flower for nearly 3 months from now, and with milder winters one often even finds a few flowers in January. But it’s around early February that they start to have a real visual impact, and mix perfectly with most other spring flower colours in the garden
11: Helleborus x hybridus. Coming in a fantastic range of colours and forms, though mainly pink/whites and yellows, these are a stalwart of a late winter garden. As well as being one of our top 4 flowers ( along with snowdrops, Crocus and Daphne bholua) for supplying honey and bumble bees with early pollen and nectar. Over time they seed around, but tend to hybridise to ‘ordinary’ pink forms, but one can easily save seed from more select forms and grow them on, to keep more interest in the garden.
12: Galanthus ‘Mrs. Thompson’. A striking, distinctive and variable snowdrop, which surprises one each year with its variable flower forms, which can be double headed, or have multiple extra outer segments. Not particularly vigorous, but often gets comments from garden visitors at this time of the year.
