The flowering stars that see off January
You don’t know what you are going to get in January – sunlight, cold days and nights, snow, rain etc. Which is why gardening in January can bring success and/or disappointment and why we should make the most of every little ray of sunshine that comes our way – in particular, those early ‘spring-flowering’ bulbs that seem to laugh at whatever winter (and January) can throw at them.
They may not be in your own garden, but they’ll be in someone’s or in a local park. So let’s enjoy them – and write down their names so we can rush out later this year and buy them to plant for spring 2022.
This month always throws up unusually early examples of tiny daffodils in and among the banks of snowdrops, but the stars of January also include Cyclamen coum (often flowering from the end of the old year), Eranthis (winter aconite) and the petite, scented Iris reticulata.
They pave the way for February when the world is suddenly filled with the flowers of Anemone blanda, crocus, Scilla (the squills) and Chionodoxa, the glory of the snow, whose small blooms are shaped like pale-blue stars.
By March, they are joined by the likes of the big Narcissus, Erythronium (the dogtooth violet) and hyacinths, and April, of course, is so full of flowers that a gardener really doesn’t know where to look.
Tulips start to take centre stage, while Convollaria, Trillium, grape hyacinth, fritillaries and Puschkinia, the rarelygrown relative of the bluebell, push their way through the soil.
It’s a hard life being a spring-flowering bulb, but the rewards are great – acclamation and appreciation from just about everyone who has had to endure a British winter.
So, enjoy the show to come; look forwards not back, and if you’ve never really got into gardening, give it a try. You may find it infuriating, but you should never be bored.