Fitting in salvia broke my heart!
I just managed to dig up Salvia confertiflora for overwintering before it snowed. It’s more than 2.1m (7ft) tall, so it broke my heart to cut off the flowers to fit it into the greenhouse! We had 15cm (6in) of snow overnight, which continued to fall the following day.
Although a glorious scene, on closer inspection things looked pretty desperate. The weight of the snow broke the flowering branches clean off Salvia involucrata.
Thank goodness the majority of seasonal cutbacks were already completed, leaves swept and mulches applied.
The greenhouse is now crammed full. Joining the cannas are recently lifted tender perennials and pelargoniums, and my precious cuttings. The rescued heucheras seem to have re-rooted and are bouncing back into growth. Plants for sale have been stowed away behind the summerhouse and begonia tubers dried, labelled and stored. Washing and refilling the bird feeders has been a priority and it has paid off, judging by the number of small birds returning to feed. On my final visit to the allotment, I scooped up at least another two dozen windfall apples. The dahlias were earthed up with fresh compost and topped off with their cutdown stems. Some last minute colourful additions have completed the winter scene. Matching terracotta tubs, flanking the rustic arch, have been planted up with Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’, black grass and red cyclamen, underplanted with Iris reticulata ‘Katharine Hodgkin’. Star of the month is Coronilla glauca ‘Citrina’, smothered in fragrant, pale lemon blooms. Carpet roses in the pastel border still held onto some flowers through the snow and compact Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Little Honey’ still has its yellow foliage. Although tasselled miscanthus has had its day, fiery Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ has bounced back.