We have a nursery fairly near to us, just where the borders of Devon, Somerset and Dorset meet, that has a  reputation for good hellebores, that nursery is R.D. Plants, and is on the road between Chard and Axminster, just outside the village of Tytherleigh.

The nursery is usually open from March to June, but each year they open on Feb. 1st just for hellebore fanatics like me!

They don’t have a web site, they don’t do mail order, they don’t accept cards as payment, just as well we had enough cash between us as I had forgotten to take my cheque book! Word of mouth and a recommendation by the RHS is obviously enough to bring people flocking.

These are the three that tempted me, I think they will have to stay on the front porch for the next few days as the weather forecast is for lots of frost, here they will be quite sheltered, not as much as when they were in their poly tunnel, but enough I think.

Yes, happiness is definitely hunting for Hellebores!

Mahonia Charity is still carrying on flowering long after it should have stopped.

The wild snowdrop is only just starting to show above ground, all the ones that are flowering now are special ones. I did have them all labelled, very tastefully with black labels and silver writing, but most of them seem to be missing, where have they all gone!! Will have to get my large snowdrop book out and re-identify them all and then make a map of where they are all planted!

I think this one is John Gray.

Is this Atkinsii, I think so, a good one that increases quite quickly.

A clump of one of the Greatorex doubles, Hyppolyta or Desdemona,  from its size, I think it is Desdemona. I won’t bore you with any more snowdrops until I have managed to re-identify them.

One of the Camellias has been flowering since December, the others have nice fat buds but are not showing any flowers yet.

Another that was in flower before Christmas is Narcissus Rijnveld’s Early Sensation.

Rosa Graham Thomas just refuses to stop flowering, and there are so many buds forming too. It was cut back by half in November, but has put out lots more new shoots, just hope it won’t regret it later.

The same has happened to the Anthemis in the front garden, it just doesn’t want to stop flowering!

Hellebores are now starting to flower in all the shady borders.

Some of them are the most delicious plum colour.

Some are double, pink outside and white within, absolutely gorgeous!

And some are spotted, will do a separate post about these lovely plants when they are all flowering in February.

The small Sarcococca bush that we have, just inside the woodland strip, might have rather insignificant flowers, but they certainly pump out the perfume! On a still day the perfume hangs around in the air and people wonder where it is coming from , not realising that it comes from such tiny flowers.

The summer snowflake, Leucojum aestivum,  is another flower that was flowering before Christmas!! Have just noticed that the spring snowflake, L.vernum, has put out its first flower, but it has a lot of catching up to do.

The tassels on Garrya elliptica are getting longer each day.  When we went to Rosemoor the other day , the RHS have a fantastic bush at the entrance with the most amazingly long tassels, put mine to shame!

Choisya ternata just gets better and better, it never seems to want to stop flowering.

Another little bush that is thoroughly confused, Convolvulous cneorum. This little plant just keeps  forming more and more flower buds, how do I stop it!

One plant that should be flowering now is Iris unguicularis, this has put flowers out since December, they don’t last long, only a day or two, but with so many buds there are always flowers showing, brightening up a dull day.

I know there are a few flowers that I forgot to photograph, the Japanese azalea, is now covered in blooms for example, but these are most of what is in flower at the moment here in the SW corner of the UK. Thank you to Carol at Maydreams Garden  for hosting this GBBD, to see more flowers, please go to http:// www.maydreamsgardens.com to see what is blooming around the world.

We are aiming for flowers like these and in the previous photo, with no blemishes, these photos were taken last February.

I had to search through my photos for some time to try and find a picture of a flower showing the black  spots of the fungus, this is the only one I could find, not too bad compared to how it would be if I hadn’t removed the leaves the previous autumn.

This is what I mean by the leaves getting a form of black spot, if it is very bad the whole leaf goes black, only one thing to do, cut it away and get rid of it, but NOT on the compost heap, that would just spread it around.

This leaf is even worse, I just hope this plant survives.

Most of my leaves are like this, just one or two spots, better to be safe than sorry, the leaves have to go and by this time of year they have done their job, providing nourishment for the plants, which don’t seem to mind having their leaves cut away.

Some of them are looking fine and will be left in place, but I will keep an eye on them.

At the same time as cutting the leaves away, I also give them a boost of fertiliser and a mulch of our own home made leaf mould. As well as feeding the plant and looking nicer, the mulch also prevents any spores that are already on the soil from splashing up in the rain onto the flowers as they emerge.

So, hopefully, this is what I will be looking for in 2 months time, lots of nice healthy plants and not a black spot to be seen, then it will all have been worth it.

It would be interesting to know if this problem only occurs in the mild, damp, west of the UK or if it is more widespread around the world, do let me know please if you have the same problem.

It is always recommended that you buy your hellebores in flower so that you can see exactly what you are buying.

It can take so long to chose exactly the right one – they are all so gorgeous and tempting.

If you let them go to seed this is the result – hundreds of seedlings – all around the mother plant that you so lovingly chose. Eventually they could take over and crowd out  the wonderful plant that you chose at the nursery.

The chances are that the seedlings will be nowhere near as good as the mother plant, usually a plain pink or white, I have only once found a good one.

This one , however, I will be saving seed from – Helleborus argutifolius. As it is a species and not a hybrid, it will come true and I would like a few more to give to friends and sell for charity on open days.

So its out with the secateurs I’m afraid and off with their heads !!  Now is the time to reward them with a small handful of fertiliser to say thank you for putting on such a wonderful display in February and March. Over the summer they can then build up their reserves for next year, not waste their energy producing seed,  and do it all again!

The flowers are all so beautiful and the best way to see them together and compare their differences is to cut just one flower from each plant and float them in a bowl of water – don’t they look just like fantastic miniature waterlilies ?!

When buying hellebores these days, the choice is so bewildering – which to choose – singles, doubles, anemone centred or dark veined. And then there is the choice of colours from white through to almost black – with spots or without !!!

The whites show up so well against the soil.

They come heavily spotted with pink…

or with pale pink spots they look very delicate as if they should be sheltering from the cold winter wind.

When they are double, they look like ballerinas tutus,

and some come with dark nectaries.

Then come the creams, darkening towards yellow.

Some yellows are quite a deep colour, some with red spots,

and some are so frilly they dance madly in the wind.

There is an enormous choice in the colour pink.

Singles.

Doubles.

Veined.

Anemone centred,

or double white inside and pink outside – gorgeous!

The pinks darken into burgandy, the singles show the pale stamens so clearly,

and the doubles look as scrumptious as blackcurrant fool.

Even darker are the ones that are almost black – they have a bloom on the petals like a luscious plum or grape – which I’m sure would show a fingerprint if you touched them. I surround mine with snowdrops so that they show up better against the soil.

They are all so beautiful, where will the breeders go from here, creating even more wonderful plants to tempt us, but you must choose them when they are in flower. Years ago, when I first started buying them, you could buy named varieties, but now nurseries are selling them as seed strains, which they know will come true. Buying a named variety means it should have been split vegetatively  and not be the seedling of a named variety. If you buy an Ashwood seedling or Blackthorn seedling,  for example, you know you are buying something special because they have spent years making sure that their seedlings come true to form. Also this means that they are cheaper than named forms and therefore you can buy more !!!

Apparantly the fallen branch that you see here came down the day before their first open day, 5th Feb. They were so thankful that the public were not there at the time and it was only the snowdrops that got squashed !!!

As well as the various snowdrops which were everywhere, no matter where you looked, other small bulbs have been planted to form a  contrast of colour. These are the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, looking much happier here than in my garden, and spreading around beautifully.

This clump of snowdrops was labeled ” Diggory ” and they are absolutely gorgeous. Only small in stature but they made up for that in having such fantastic round flowers.

Another general view of the woodland walk in the Park, the snowdrops here are ” James Backhouse”. This was formerly known as” Atkinsii” and is good for naturalising.

This is a view of “S.Arnott “, literally thousands of them and Colesbourne Park is reputed to have the best display of them in the country, I can believe it. While Ray and I were standing and admiring them we got into conversation with a charming gentleman and we agreed what a really good snowdrop it was and should be in everyones collection. It turned out that it was Sir Henry Elwes, the owner of Colesbourne Park and we both have them up our drives, mine is a much shorter drive than his!

More “S.Arnott” this time with cyclamen coum for company. There are lots of Cyclamen coum planted around the garden but also we saw lots of leaves of cyclamen hederifolium which flower in the autumn so with all the autumn tints this must be just as colourful later in the year.

Drifts of snowflakes, Leucojum vernum, hundreds of them, will mine ever spread to look as good as these, one day maybe.

On a steep bank we found a drift of Scilla siberica , such a tiny plant but what a fantastic colour blue. At home mine are not even showing yet.

In a glade beneath the very tall trees was a drift of Crocus  tommasineanus, hundreds of them. What a pity the sun wasn’t shining, they would have all opened up and looked a lot happier, even so , a beautiful scene.

Another general view of the woodland walk, snowdrops as far as the eye can see.

And even more bulbs, who can possibly say that gardens are boring in the winter !

These tiny little narcissus are not open properly yet, but I think they might be Narcissus cyclamineus where the outer petals will be swept back in line with the trumpet.Gorgeous little things.

Another large patch of Cyclamen coum, fantastic for contrasting with all the snowdrops.

Found a few Iris ” Katharine Hodgkin” in a border near to the house. Very understated and very beautiful.

Also saw a few Hellebores, like us , their hellebores are not firing on all cylinders yet. The  weather  in December and January has certainly held them back. We need another week of milder weather and then they will open properly.

The final part of our visit was to walk down by the lake at Colesbourne Park, even in the winter with no leaves on the trees it was so beautiful. The lake is very blue apparantly due to particles of clay suspended in the water, whatever the reason, it is a lovely shade of blue.

This was our final view before turning back towards the car park and the sales table! Did I succumb to temptation…….what do you think…….of course I did!!! My new snowdrops are “Colossus”, very tall and early flowering, should be out by Christmas, weather permitting. Also ” Lord Lieutenant ” which has horizontal flowers and commemorates Sir Henry  Elwes’ position as Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. My last one is “Lapwing” which has the most unusual inner markings and has been on my wish list for a long time.

While walking back to the car park,  past the Tea Room, a lady came out , wearing her apron, and got talking about the garden. She said that we were wonderful to come on such a miserable day, it was drizzling by now,when we looked at her name badge it said Carolyn Elwes – what a lovely couple sharing their superb garden with us all and giving us such wonderful memories. We will certainly be back.

Maybe a few more days of mild weather will bring them on.

The quince by the back door started flowering in November, but obviously all those flowers were burnt by the severe frost that we had, along with the snow. It is covered with hundreds of buds, so, hopefully will soon be flowering once more.

The winter jasmine by the front door is another that started flowering in November but was cut short by the weather. There are still plenty of buds to come though, so it is not all doom and gloom.

Viburnum bodnantense New Dawn is in the same situation as the others, plenty of flowers in November, then stopped by the weather. Once again there are plenty of flowers to come in the next few months.

Iris unguicularis started flowering, just one flower, before it was blasted by the frost and snow – hopefully there will be more flowers later.

One of the casualties of the weather is our Hypericum prolificum which had a beautiful rounded shape.  Obviously the snow was too heavy for it and quite a few branches have broken off. It is now looking rather a mess and will need cutting back to make a decent shape once more – I hope it will sprout again.

The Phormium which only just survived last winter, by sprouting from the base, got covered with 2 large net curtains and had a large piece of cardboard propped against it to try and keep the frost at bay. I will just have to wait and see if I have been successful. The fuchsias look just like they did last January – everything above ground seems to be dead so I am assuming that they will sprout from the base again just as they did last spring.

A shrub that is almost flowering is the Witch Hazel – the buds are just starting to open and we can see a tiny bit of yellow, so it won’t be long now. Once this gets going I will feel that maybe spring is just around the corner, but have to remind myself that usually January and February are the worst months for weather!!

My pink Hellebore which was flowering before Christmas has recovered from being buried under all our snow and is flowering once more……..

and has plenty of buds to follow.

Other hellebores wait for about another month usually, but there are plenty of buds promising lots of flowers later.

I spotted one lonely Cyclamen coum in the woodland on New Year’s Day. Soon there should be a lot more to join it, they look really lovely planted among the snowdrops.

Primulas are keen to be flowering again

but this one was bought as a cowslip at a church fair !!!

No wonder we had so many fieldfares and redwings in the garden. All these apples were still on the tree when the snow came, probably the weight of the snow made them fall off, but the birds have certainly enjoyed eating them. We have plenty too, stored in the freezer, so they didn’t get them all !!

For those who have been reading previous posts on this blog – yes , we did manage to escape from our village and spend Christmas with our son and daughter- in- law in London. The worst part of the journey was driving up the hill out of the village, 1 mile of packed snow and ice, no gritting had been done, the rest of the journey was easy !

Happy New Year – I hope that 2011 is a good year for all our gardens.

In spite of this the early flowers have looked lovely, when we got back from Sierra Leone the small woodland looked wonderful with thousands of snowdrops- the Hellebores which normally flower at the same time didn’t like the freezing temperatures and flowered beautifully a month later. Lots of other Spring bulbs followed the Snowdrops, then the Primroses, Narcissus & Bluebells took over. It was certainly worth going for a little walk each day just to see what had popped up overnight.

My passion, apart from Snowdrops & Hellebores, is Meconopsis and I am nursing about 200 seedlings, having just planted them out in their final places.50 were grown from seed which I bought in Canada at the Metis Garden (fantastic garden) and the other 150 from the seed of a plant I bought of Meconopsis “Lingholm”. While everyone else here will be hoping for a hot dry summer, I’m afraid I will be hoping for it to be cool & drizzly so that they will feel as if they are still at home in Tibet! Now each day I am searching for flower buds on my plants — do I let them flower in their first year? – I have read so much conflicting advice. At the moment I don’t think I would have the heart to cut the flower spikes off but would have to sacrifice one plant to collect seed to try and grow more plants.

At the moment we are frantically trying to get our garden ready for our opening for the National Garden Scheme next month (June 12/13) — non stop weeding. We thought we were on top of the weeds but after the last lot of rain the weeds are popping up everywhere again – it never stops!