JO’S FAVOURITE FEBRUARY PLANTS

Cyclamen hederifolium: A great foliage plant, with marbled, ivy-shaped leaves, that makes good ground cover for six months of the year. It flowers in the autumn.

Cyclamen coum: Brilliant for flower impact, bearing masses of intensely magenta blooms from late winter to early spring, held above kidney-shaped, dark green leaves.

Common bladdernut, Staphylea pinnata: Large, upright deciduous shrub or small tree up to 16ft (5m), with attractive, striated bark and hanging clusters of fragrant flowers in late spring.

Laurel-leaved currant, Ribes laurifolium: Evergreen shrub up to 3ft (1m) in height, with leathery, dark green leaves and pendent yellow-green flowers in late winter and early spring; a perfect nectar source for early bees.

Early crocus, Crocus tommasinianus: Lilac to deep purple crocus that can naturalise in grass, creating glorious sheets of colour when it flowers in February and March.

Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’: Produces large, arrow-shaped, glossy green leaves, marbled with cream, and looks lovely on the woodland floor among the snowdrops.

Left to right: Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Silver Cloud’, its muted pink heads above silvery foliage; larger, green-tinged, creamy heads of Ribes laurifolium Rosemoor form; reddish-purple Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’ has flaming orange stigma.

Tongues of Arum italicum subsp. italicum ‘Marmoratum’ leaves, rippled with cream, complement a trio of snowdrops.