Did you know
sets onions from Cold can make up flower stems. bolt and send once sets are Spring frosts, to think trick plants sprouting, make passed and winter has
Sets are usually them bloom. to stop them heat treated from blooming
These two biennials, or short-lived perennials, are easily grown from seed and flower in their second season, after a cool winter. Curiously, unless you grow special varieties bred as annuals, aquilegias stubbornly refuse to bloom in their first year, whether you sow them in January or in August. It is the plant’s way of avoiding blooming too late in summer so the seeds won’t have a chance to mature fully. This is called vernalisation and this cold period helps trigger lots of other plants to bloom.
Winter is like a reset button for our gardens. Although autumn is really the start of the garden year, not spring, winter stops the game and gives us a chance to regroup and start again. Although we try to encourage beneficial insects with bug hotels and leaving old stems for them to use as refuges, the cold eliminates lots of pests. It also makes our garden birds work all the harder to look for insects and spiders and rid us of a lot of garden nuisances.