With expert Agnes Stevenson
It’s not yet spring, says expert Agnes Stevenson, but there are signs of its approach amid the gales, so now is the ideal time to prepare for the warmer weather
On a mild day, with the first touch of spring in the air, there’s no better place to be than in the garden, except that for the last week or so there’s been no such thing as a mild day.
Instead we’ve had a battering from Storm Ciara, followed by rain, snow and more blustery spells.
Friends around the country have been sending me photos of smashed greenhouses, shredded polytunnels and garden streams that have turned into torrents, so I count myself lucky that the worst we suffered was seeing the blossom stripped from the winter flowering cherry tree by vicious hail.
When it has been calm enough to work outdoors I’ve been digging up the drumstick primulas that have been appearing out of sodden soil.
These are really tough plants that start coming into growth at the coldest time of the year, pushing up fresh, green leaves when there’s not much else to see.
It will be a while before we can enjoy their cheerful purple and white flower heads but the foliage itself is a sign that better days are on the way.
I’ve been digging them out of the border that’s under renovation so they don’t get trampled but they’ll go back in again once the shrubs and larger plants are in place. Then I’ll add bulbs around them, including cyclamen-flowered daffodils which are very happy in damp soil.
Small daffodils like these are among my favourites as most appear early in the year when we need something to cheer us up, but I also have a soft spot for Narcissus “Thalia”, another small variety that doesn’t appear until mid-spring.
While I was clearing up the border I came across two pots of Iris reticulata in full flower. I must have tucked them away under one of the rhododendrons in the autumn and then forgotten about them.
Both pots were filled with small, rich blue flowers, each with a goldenyellow centre.
When this year’s flowers fade
I’ll split them up and spread them around so that next year I’ll have an even better show.
By the time the irises are going over the crocuses should be in flower. These respond to a sunny position, so if yours grow in good light then they may open very soon. Mine get more sunlight now the chestnut tree that shaded them has been removed, so it won’t be long before they appear.
Gardens change all the time of course and an open, sunny sight can gradually grow shadier as trees mature, so at times it makes sense to reassess the flowers you grow, swapping sun lovers for shadetolerant species or pruning trees to allow in more light.