FENCE Daffs are doing their thing! Derrick Turbitt
Over the
After a few mild weeks at the beginning of the year it’s much colder now, with lots of rain, frost and occasional snow showers. Despite this, the majority of the show daffodils are showing above ground. At this time of year I usually get phone calls from gardeners who are worried that the frost will kill their daffodils that have foliage above ground. I reassure them that they’re hardy and will just mark time until the weather becomes milder. My daffodil beds have been weeded and the emerging foliage has been sprayed with a fungicide.
On the kitchen windowsill the Christmas cactus is still in flower, with lots of pink and white blossoms. The sweet pea seed sown in January has germinated well and the seedlings have been potted on. They’re now in the cold greenhouse where they’ll grow on steadily and develop a strong root system. I’ve grown five varieties, 15 plants of each. Iris reticulata, which was growing in pots outside, has been moved into the greenhouse to flower. I have four cultivars in bloom; ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’, ‘Alida’, ‘Palm Springs’ and a new one to me this year, ‘Frozen Planet’.
Snowdrops are in full flower in the garden. I’ve a few named cultivars. ‘Wendy’s Gold’ is the most distinctive, with a bright yellow ovary and inner flower petals. I sowed some galanthus (snowdrop) seed from my plants a few years ago and among the seedlings I was pleased to find a flower with green markings on the outer petals. It’s been carefully marked and will be moved to a more favourable position when the leaves die back. A clump of G. nivalis near the compost heap gets larger and stronger each year, probably because it’s getting nutrient run-off from the compost. I’ve various Cyclamen coum corms growing in pots outside. These are now in flower, mostly with bright pink blooms, although a few have white flowers. Most have green leaves with darkercoloured markings but some have silver-grey leaves. Over the years they’ve produced seedlings that have grown on showing different leaf forms and flower shades.
Various primulas are coming into flower, including a blue Victorian polyanthus and some gold-striped polyanthus. I’ve a small collection of dark-leaved primroses bred in Northern Ireland by Joe Kennedy from Ballycastle. These include ‘Innisfree’, ‘Drumcliffe’ and ‘Dark Rosaleen’.
A few years ago, I got a rooted cutting of a white-flowering currant (ribes) named ‘Ellington’s White’. This has grown well for me and about a year ago I took some cuttings. These have rooted and grown strongly so I’ve transplanted them into larger individual pots. The circle will be completed as I’ve promised to give them to some friends who admired the original plant.