Everywhere I look at the moment, the eye is taken by all the hellebores that are flowering, from white through to plum coloured ones. Most of the snowdrops are starting to “go over” and the hellebores are shouting “look at me” and vying with the narcissus that are also starting to flower. These first hellebores are all growing along the driveway in the front.
The last of my snowdrops has just started to flower and will continue for another month. The original ones that started in the New Year are now over but plenty are still flowering. The late ones which have been flowering for a couple of weeks now start with Galanthus Wareham. A silver stripe is prominent down the centre of the pleated leaves.
There is quite a difference in the woodland since the end of January. Most of the snowdrops are up and flowering, some have even have finished and I am waiting for just one clump to open up to the sunshine. Thank goodness the awful storms have finished for now, no more branches coming down and now there is some heat in the sun which is shining on and off most days, between the showers! Last month when I took the photographs I forgot to include the borders in the back garden that are either side of the archway into the woodland, the planting in the borders is similar to the woodland. This first one is the border to the left of the arch.
We have just had Foliage Day where we can appreciate all the different colours and textures of the leaves in our gardens. But there is more, now is the time to look up and see the beauty that is around us in the tree trunks and stems in our gardens. Some of mine have been planted purely and simply because of their colour, so that we will have colour in the garden through the dull grey winter days, one was discovered a lot later when it grew and developed adult bark on its trunk. The most obvious grouping that we have is up the drive where we have our various silver birches and Cornus alba sibirica Westonbirt.
As soon as I started looking round the garden to see what sort of foliage I could photograph, it was obvious from all the new shoots that there were, that most, but not all the photos would be of the new foliage that was bursting forth in the garden. I shouldn’t have been surprised, because we have had a very mild winter so far with only a couple of little frosts, I just hope that we don’t get some arctic weather in March that will then burn all the new shoots. I’m starting with some fennel shoots just outside the back door.
This is a seedling of the parent plant, the parent seems to have died, can’t see any shoots anywhere near where it used to be.
At the moment the weather can’t make up its mind what it should do, one minute it is beautifully sunny, the next, raining again. During a spell of sunshine lately I managed to nip to the woodland to see if the Tommies were open in the sunshine, the Tommies I’m referring to are of course Crocus tommasinianus, a species crocus which is thinner and smaller than the Dutch Crocus and goes beautifully with all the snowdrops.
Deciding yesterday to nip out into the garden while there was a bit of sunshine, to take my photos for this months GBBD, all of a sudden it went very dark and very cold, and there I was, in a hail storm! This was followed by a day of torrential rain and the wind was hurricane level blowing straight at the south coast, our poor trees are being battered once more.
My last post was all about my snowdrops, so only a few have sneaked into a couple of general views this time. Mostly , this months flowers are my Hellebores.
After a quick check in the woodland to see that all our trees were still standing after the last storm, we had just a few branches down, but thankfully no snowdrops had been squashed. The branches seem to have managed to put themselves between all the clumps of wild snowdrops and hadn’t landed any where near my “specials”. The sunshine that we had before the storm struck meant that all the snowdrops were standing tall and had opened up to show their different markings, just asking to be photographed. Starting in the front, Mrs McNamara is still going strong, she was so much bigger than the wild ones next to her, but now G. nivalis seem to have caught up and are now nearly as tall, Mrs McNamara is on the left.
We had a beautifully sunny morning, not much wind, so I was able to nip into the garden to see what had opened up in the warmth of the sun. Lots of snowdrops as I thought but also the hellebores had decided that it was warm enough for them to start putting on a show. I decided the snowdrops could wait until next time, so here are the few hellebores that are open at the moment.
This one is actually in the front garden and was the first one to open up. Tonight, there is going to be another storm so I hope it stands up to the weather.
Another in the front garden which , along with the snowdrops here, lift my spirits when going in and out.
An anemone centred one, still in the front.
A lovely double in the rhododendron bed.
A single yellow hellebore in the back garden.
A really beautiful double pink, still in the back garden.
A single pink on the slope down to the ditch, that’s how I was able to get underneath it – lovely blue sky and the sun was quite warm.
A single white hellebore at the end of the woodland.
Now round near the back door is a lovely Eric Smithii hellebore, with lots of buds to come.There are lots more hellebores to open, they will be photographed when their time comes.
The promised rain has arrived and the wind will get much stronger tonight so it sounds as if we will have to check our trees again in the morning and make sure that they are all still standing.
Yesterday, Sunday, has been the first day for such a long time when we have had no rain and non stop sunshine all day and what a difference it has made to the snowdrops and other flowers in the woodland. The snowdrops open their petals wide and their lovely markings are there for everyone to see. There are lots more still to open but I thought that I would share with you the ones that I photographed yesterday.
This one is G. Lapwing, one bulb bought about 3 yrs ago, so increasing nicely.
Magnet is recognised by its long pedicel, the thin green part that holds the flower, and yes, I must certainly spread these around, they are increasing so well.
Sorry, not quite in focus, I must have taken about a dozen and this is the best, the camera just didn’t want to focus! G.Trumps has very strong distinguishing marks on the outer petals.
A better photo of Trumps from above.
Yes, I know I said that the flowers were all open in the sunshine, but look what I discovered when looking at G. Wendy’s Gold. With one bulb bought about 4 yrs ago, there are now 5 bulbs, but if you look carefully, each bulb is putting up 2 flowers. Looking at all 3 of my snowdrop books, only Freda Cox’s Guide to Snowdrops which I got for Christmas, mentions that it is a strong bulb which increases well, sometimes putting up 2 scapes (flowers) In previous years it has only had one flower for each bulb, so I think Wendy must be happy!
By the front gate, but not increasing, is Anglesey Abbey which is almost all white, with just 2 tiny dots on the inner petals. I think when it has finished flowering, I will move it to the woodland where I think it will be happier.
Galanthus Ellwesii is in the back border, before you cross the bridge into the woodland, this is just starting to increase after a few years of just sitting there!
I only have a few of special double snowdrops as most of them seem the same to me, this is G Cordelia, one of the Greatorex doubles.
Lady Beatrice Stanley is another double, but she is very different with the markings on the inner petals reduced to two spots.
Another Greatorex double is Hippolyta.
With long drooping outer petals is G. Modern Art which is on the small hill at the end of the woodland.
G. Angelique is on the rockery at the side of the house, unfortunately the markings are not showing well on this photo, there is just a very thin green arch on the inner petals, this has increased nicely over the last few years.
I forgot to photograph this one, St. Annes, yesterday, and of course with it being cloudy and cold today, she didn’t want to open up for me. This is a tiny, delicate looking snowdrop, but she is increasing well. This one is about the same size as the single wild snowdrop but has much more interesting marks on the inner petals.
When showing G gracilis before, I have concentrated on the twisted leaves, but now, having opened up in the sunshine, we can see the lovely markings on the inner petals.
Looking like a Tiffany lampshade is Leucojum vernum, the spring snowflake. I think I also need to move this one to the woodland because we usually have more than one flower, I don’t think it’s happy!
Another couple of weeks and I should have some different snowdrops to share with you, more are opening each day and make a trip to the woodland essential for me.
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