With Agnes Stevenson
Frustrating, isn’t it? Waiting for the better weather and those wonderful lost hours in the garden, not long now so be prepared says our expert, Agnes Stevenson
Tomorrow marks the start of a new month and daylight hours are beginning to stretch. February can be cold and unforgiving, but we are slowly edging towards spring with all its delights and it can’t come soon enough.
Close to where I live is Corsehill Park in Ayr which, every February, is carpeted in crocuses. It’s the largest expanse of these small flowers that I’ve seen anywhere and the spectacle is much loved by everyone in the area. It’s where I go to get my fix because crocuses in my garden are invariably eaten by pheasants so I’m restricted to growing them in small pots.
And lovely though it is to be able to admire the flowers close-up, it doesn’t quite match the experience of seeing them stretch out in purple, yellow and white waves.
The earliest flowers of the year are all small and delicate in appearance and so they lend themselves to being grown in large swathes. In the garden this often means growing them in grass rather than in the flower beds and lifting and dividing bulbs after flowering to encourage them to spread.
I’ve been doing this with snowdrops for several years now and finally the two or three clumps that I began with are beginning to bulk up, but they still have some way to go before I can claim that they carpet the ground.
Elsewhere in the garden it is the Japanese quinces that I’m hoping will soon be in bloom. Last year these were in flower for an astonishing 10 months, a record equalled only by the geums which, even now, are still carrying a few flowers.
Quinces are a cheerful sight in late winter and as well as the unnamed variety with brick red flowers that I inherited when we moved here, I’m keen to add Chaenomeles speciosa
Moerloosei which has flowers that resemble apple blossom, and I’m also tempted by apricotcoloured Geisha Girl, pure white Nivalis and the pretty Pink Lady.
My original idea was to underplant those quinces that I already have with crocuses in the hope that the spiky, crossing branches would prevent the birds from getting to the bulbs.
However those same spiky, crossing branches have thwarted my every attempt to get near them and I think I may have to resort to wearing welding gauntlets if I’m going to get near enough to plant anything without shredding my fingers. Underplanting perennials and deciduous shrubs with spring bulbs is an easy way of getting more out of every patch of ground and the emerging foliage helps to hide the tatty leaves of the bulbs as they start to die down. I’ve got some very large Hostas that at this time of year are still beneath ground, so I’ve surrounded them with Tete-a-tete narcissi.
Roll on the spring...it can’t come soon enough.