Springing into action

The division of them will create new vigorous plants, especially with those such as aster and phlox that tend to grow in clumps producing new growth around the outside.

Gently tease apart the plant into new plantlets. You can discard the old centre and replant your new stock immediately in a well-prepared soil with some slow-release fertiliser.

Perennials with deep tap roots can’t be divided so leave the likes of oriental poppies, lupins and eryngiums alone and some such as hellebores, dierama and aconitum prefer not to be disturbed at all.

Other perennials and grasses that you have left over winter can be cut back to ground level now and the rotting vegetation removed.

I skipped cutting back the penstemon – although it was very overgrown, the foliage may provide some protection to the crown in this very cold weather and it can be clipped back in a couple of weeks.

And finally, I got round to pruning some of the shrub roses. This can often be a job that people are somewhat unsure about but it need not be too complicated.

Basically you don’t want your rose to grow weak and spindly with just a few flowers on top, so you cut back the stems to a half or a third of their height, making the snip just above a bud which will keep the bush more compact and encourage new growth.

Remove any dead wood and aim to keep the centre of the shrub open.

It was great to spend a day outdoors before retreating back inside again – it may be that the recent snow curtails our enthusiasm for garden tasks but the wonderful thing about gardening is that nature will eventually sort itself out and if these jobs aren’t appropriate to carry out just yet, they will be later on in the month.