A welcome burst of early colour: the first flowers of the year
Growing the best varieties for early flowering steals a march on winter – but making good use of west-facing walls, sunny porches and unheated greenhouses will also help many plants along, says Graham Rice
Aquick-off-the-blocks and out-infront approach to choosing plant varieties – selecting those specifically developed to flower earlier than the majority of their kind – works with many plants.
Take daffodils. Easy-to-find ‘February Gold’ was named almost 100 years ago and, such has our climate changed, with me it now often flowers in January. Likewise ‘Rijnveld’s Early Sensation’.
There are snowdrop varieties, as more and more people are aware, that flower in succession from autumn to spring, but snowdrops have been the victims of severe price inflation. To have some in flower ahead of the late winter rush, we need to balance suitability with value. November-flowering Galanthus elwesii ‘Remember, Remember’ is a good compromise.
Hellebores, sometimes called Christmas roses, have a head start in the early flowering stakes, although very few actually flower at Christmas. For most of them, this time of year is the first opportunity to clear away the old leaves to reveal their tight buds.
In its native alpine habitat, from Switzerland to northern Italy, Helleborus niger is under snow at Christmas and its flower buds emerge as the snow melts; so its main flowering season is very definitely in the spring.
However, hellebores acquired their reputation as the Christmas rose because, in the large country house gardens of the 19th century, it was the practice to lift plants from the garden, pot them up and keep them in a cold or frost-free greenhouse – where they flowered at Christmas. Plants were sometimes dug from the wild and imported for this purpose, they were even gently forced for cutting.
Now things are different, largely owing to the work of one German plant breeder, Joseph Heuger, whose varieties are seen under the banner of the Helleborus Gold Collection. Most are far earlier than older varieties.
These are stocked by mail order specialists and some should be available locally in independent garden centres as well as the Dobbies and Notcutts chains. This year’s newcomer, October-flowering Diva, is the earliest, then Joshua, Jonas, Josef Lemper and Jasper. There are also camellias, clematis, cherries, rhododendrons, skimmias and more where a careful choice of varieties will give you a flying start.
HOW TO COAX EARLY BLOOMING
In addition to a thoughtful choice of varieties, there are many ways to encourage plants into flower a little earlier than usual. One way or another, this usually involves providing protection from the worst of the winter weather.
At one end of the scale, as with those hellebores moved into a cold or frostfree greenhouse to encourage early flowering, other perennials can be treated in the same way. Bringing on some early flowers is ideal motivation for clearing and cleaning a greenhouse where tomatoes have provided a fruitful crop in summer.
I like to pot up a tiarella or two for the cold greenhouse. They surge into flower weeks ahead of normal and the pots can also be moved to a porch when in flower or, my preference, the individual flowering stems can be snipped for dainty dinner table posies. Other good candidates for this gentle forcing treatment are double-flowered or gold-laced polyanthus, Corydalis flexuosa, woodland dicentras and epimediums.
Even an unheated and well-ventilated greenhouse will bring these flowers on noticeably but it is important not to overdo it – more ventilation rather than less. These are, basically, hardy plants and too much warmth will promote soft, weak growth.
No greenhouse? Well, elegant glass bell jars, or those square-glazed cloches like miniature greenhouses, can be used to cover individual plants in the garden to provide a little extra warmth, and bring forward blooming. Traditionally used for hellebores, they also have the advantage of preventing rain splashing soil on to those pristine flowers. Plus, both types have an elegance that enhances bare borders in winter. But even without protection, we can be clever about teasing earlier flowering from our shrubs and perennials and protecting them once they open. A west-facing wall works like those oldfashioned electric storage radiators, which, basically, are packed with bricks; it soaks up the heat and then releases it overnight when needed. Look at a west-facing wall on a chilly morning and you will often see a band of frost-free soil along the base.
The warmth from a south or westfacing wall will bring flowering forward and protect buds and open flowers from frost but the warmest place in the whole winter garden can be the outside of the chimney breast – a roaring fire keeps you cosy on the inside while, on the outside, a fan-trained apricot or an acacia benefits from a little residual warmth.
Porches are invaluable in both encouraging early opening of flower buds and protecting open flowers from chills. Some porches are crammed with boots and tools with the ancient gardening coat hanging on a peg. Not a pretty prospect. Far better a pot with a winter clematis or early rhododendron that can be moved away after it has delighted visitors far more than your weatherbeaten wellies.
In country house gardens, plants were dug up and brought into a frost-free greenhouse