Winter thoughts

It snowed all morning, though as so often no sooner than it has fallen it begins to disappear. Still it is fair to say that we are having what one might call a proper winter: it is only the 6th of January and we have already had two falls of snow. Now they are promising us temperatures of -5 C., and it is at that temperatue that I begin to worry. I do not take up either cannas or dahlias, since in the past I have lost more from rotting off in the garage, than leaving them in the ground, but of course there comes a moment when one could lose them from freezing ground. Most sages are potentially under threat, pentstemons also, and no doubt other things that I have forgotten, so it is worrying times.Last year I succeeded in getting through the winter a plant that I have set my heart on growing for many years, without knowing quite why, and so far without great success.  It is an Isoplexis, in my case I. isabelliana, which one might describe as a shrubby foxglove, or even shrubby pentstemon, but  with orange/rusty flowers. According to Philips & Rix it can take down to -3 C., so -5 C. is serious worry. I do protect it, as I do the various hedychiums, about which more in a later blog. But there is a worry about protection, especially perhaps of a vegetable variety - this year I have used shredded bark. Slugs and snails find it an ideal wintering up place, and they are often up and about in the Spring before you. It can also enourage moulds of various kinds, so that the protected plant is killed by rot rather than frost. All the books stress that winter damp can be as dangerous as winter cold, and talk alot about good drainage, but in our heavy soil good drainage is difficult to provide. Moreover the plants I have mentioned including the dahlias and the cannas rather like our heavy soil, so as always in gardening you are confronted with a choice of evils, and can only hope for the best.

As regards winter colour there is little of it to be found for the moment in my garden. We are still so very much in what some one once said of a previous garden, the 'pygmy stage'; with nothing very much making an impact,so one has to use one's imagination.  Winter, or more accurately early spring flowering trees and shrubs already in include Hamamelis x intermedia Diane; Lonicera fragrantissima; Mahonia x media Lionel Fortescue; ditto Winter Sun; Prunus Hally Jolivette; P. Okame, and P. x subhirtella Autumnalis Rosea. I am not convinced that the Hamamelis will turn out to be a good choice. It is not so much the lack of acid soil, though the more westerly you are the more likely you are to have such  soil, but the dry summers.  They are essentially woodland shrubs, but dampish woodland, not our dry oak woods. Moreover my plant was a Gamm Vert 'promo', i.e. well past its sell by date,and therefore half the price - and very pricey they more usually are, but it has just about survived its first summer, and it is in a spot where I can easily get water to it, so on verra.  The 'Cherries' are getting away well, as they normally do in our area - my feeling s that local nurserymen do not think enough about them. Mahonia Winter Sun nearly died its first summer; it is no doubt wrongly placed on a south facing bank - but I failed to get round to moving it, and as a result at this very moment it is probably the star of the garden.  The Winter honeysuckle is a must in this region because though it is a rather dowdy shrub for most of the year, its flower power and therefore scent in the winter months is outstanding, and moreover it is trouble free. This reminds me to say that I find quite a lot of shrubs which in England I found a little boring, out here flower and/or fruit so intensely, that they go up in my estimation. Amongst these I would include Chaenomeles, or Ornamental quinces, which here flower very early, and Pyracanthas. 

Bulbs do their thing more or less immediately, or at any rate they flower immediately, so they in this sense avoid the pygmy stage. Of course, as with all things, they come with problems. The number of my snowdrops is  rapidly decreasing, even though planted on a north woodland slope. Crocus would flourish but for the mice and voles, tulips ditto, and this to my surprise since I thought they would not take to the heavy clay. Unfortunately for me the rabbits appear to like them, it seems to me more out of curiousity than any gastronomic pleasure. The good news is that they do not seem to like daffodils. I some times think that we are a bit dry for them, and they appear to hold their own rather than flourish, but I have planted a lot of them, mainly of the smaller varieties such N. February Gold, but more of this another time.  Of the even smaller bulbs, cyclamen are a must, including the winter flowering 'Coums'; also the small iris such as I. histriodes and reticulata.Unlike in England where they tended to die out, here they seem to multiply, though again alas for me the rabbits are quite interested in them. This is also true of my final recommendations, the Ipheions. My impression is that they are underrated, and admittedly the most common example, I. uniflorum, is a rather washy blue. But Wisley Blue is stronger, and Alberto Castillo a very good white. I. Rolf Fielder is a slightly different animal, with a smaller, ground hugging leaves, but with a flower of an almost flourescent blue. They disappear from view after early flowering, but do not seem to mind being accidently disturbed; in fact it is probably good for them, as they soon become very congested. But that is the good news. They appear to like us, and over quite a long period provide carefree colour.