Blooming marvellous
It may still be cold, but nature is starting to wake up all around us
IT IS frosty and cold outside and, at first glance, it appears that nothing is growing in our garden at this time of year. Sunlight is in short supply, the ground is hard with frost and small creatures are sleeping soundly in our insect hotel under a blanket of rotting autumn leaves.
Things look pretty bleak, as a single blackbird hops about on the lawn, waiting for the pear that my neighbour puts out each morning for him.
But over in the park, the holly wears its winter coat of shiny leaves and red berries, tall pines stretch to the sky and ivy trails and climbs, providing lots of colour for winter walkers.
For thousands of years people have been bringing in greenery such as conifers, holly and ivy to brighten up their homes in winter – a reminder that nature is still out there, just sleeping at the moment.
Of course some indoor festive flowers are still in bloom, such as the giant-trumpeted amaryllis and the sweet-scented hyacinth.
These fabulous, frilly flowers grow from bulbs, and it always amazes me how such glorious shapes, colours and scents can spring from something that looks like a small, dried up onion.
Two of my favourite winter flowering plants are the cyclamen and the schlumbergera or Christmas cactus. These plants look so unassuming throughout the spring, summer and autumn but in the winter they put on lovely displays of colourful blooms.
The cyclamen’s flowers appear like shy little buds peeping from beneath its leaves whereas the Christmas cactus shoots out flowers from the ends of its branches like fireworks.
The Christmas cactus is native to jungle-type woodlands where it grows attached to trees, but it seems to enjoy living in homes in colder parts of the world, putting on a colourful display from November to late January.
It may be cold outside now, but soon the snowdrops will raise their heads, hinting at the start of spring, and the plants that have bloomed so beautifully all winter will get a well-earned rest.