Once again I am in my element, wandering through my little woodland each day, looking at all the snowdrops that are flowering at the moment. We have had so much rain over the last month, the rest of the garden is sodden, but thankfully the woodland doesn’t seem to suffer the same as the rest of the garden and being lower down it is quite sheltered from any wind..Some of the early special snowdrops have finished flowering already but lots have just started and now the wild doubles have joined in. The wild singles are almost there, but I think it will take another week before they really make an impression.
The view from the bridge over the ditch at the entrance to the woodland.
This area used to be full of 2 old rhododendrons which hardly ever flowered, I much prefer it now.
Galanthus Angelique.
Spring snowflake, Leucojum vernum.
Unknown to me the wild snowdrops had been happily multiplying under the rhododendron branches, I am now enjoying the results.
Iris reticulata Edward.
G. Trumps which is spreading madly.
There are still gaps so I can see me splitting more wild snowdrops as soon as they have finished flowering.
This large hellebore was transferred from another part of the garden into the hole left by one of the rhododendrons. It was given a lot of compost and leaf mould and I don’t think it realises that it has been moved, it seems very happy. The rhododendrons were given to the friend of a friend, I must find out if they are happy in their new garden
I’m amazed at how well the hellebore has done, considering it was moved last year.
G. St. Annes, very dainty.
G. Magnet, one of my very first ones, 20 odd years ago!
Little wild snowdrops are popping up everywhere without any help from me, that is the sort of gardening that I like. I think all these are the double ones, I must split more of them to fill the spaces between the single ones.
G. Madelaine, new last year, in the flesh she looks more yellow than in the photo. This is another dainty one, about the size of a wild single.
The little slope at the end of the woodland.
G. Wendy’s Gold.
Another view of the slope.
Looking back along the path which was made last year, the slope is in the distance.
One of my species snowdrops is G. woronowii, this seeds about by the flower stalk elongating, bending over and depositing the whole seed pod 7 inches away from the parent plant. A few years later we have a new cluster of flowers. I am now moving some to where there is a slope so that they can seed downhill.
Yes, I know I should have cut back the hellebore leaves, that is the next job to be done. I have been so busy removing last years autumn leaves, weeding the woodland and spreading a mulch for my snowdrops, hellebores and cyclamen.
Daphne bholua in a corner of the woodland with snowdrops and hellebores.
Cyclamen coum slowly spreading.
Iris unguicularis Mary Barnard by the dining room window
Chaenomeles by the back door, still looking good.
I hope you enjoyed your wander round with me, time now for a tea or a coffee, whichever you prefer!
In spite of all the rain, the woodland is looking better than ever at this time of year, I hope it continues to do so for the rest of the winter. February is usually our worst month weatherwise, although it was March last year when we were covered twice with a good layer of snow!! I hope you are having good gardening weather whereever you are.
Oh Pauline – you must know just how much I enjoy reading about your woodland and seeing the photos, and I would certainly feel very much at home there! Your collection of specials is older than mine – my first special was in 2003, I think. I didn’t know that about G woronowii, so thanks for the info. Don’t big clumps of hellebores look magnifucent?
So glad you have enjoyed my woodland Cathy, it is a very special place for me. I think Trumps is taking after G. woronowii, I now have 5 small clumps quite a way from each other, so think he must be doing the same, bending over and depositing the whole seed pod. I’ll have to move him to a bigger space! I suppose I could have split my large hellebore when I moved it, but it was such a lovely clump, I decided to keep it as it was, thank goodness it survived!
I really enjoyed my garden tour with you Pauline. Make mine a coffee, cream (double), no sugar. Your woodland is looking absolutely beautiful. All your hard work clearly paid off. We are having an unusally warm, wet and windy Winter. My first snowdrops are almost flowering, really unheard of for this time of year.
Thanks for coming with me Denise, glad you enjoyed your tour. I always imagine you under so many feet of snow at this time of year, we are having a warm spell too, more daffodils are now flowering, which is early for them. I have a feeling that I will get the woodland just as I want it, when it will be time for me to downsize!
Your woodland is just lovely. I did enjoy your delightful snowdrops and other delights. Lucky you having so many snowdrops.xxx
Thank you Dina, I like it too! It is hard work dividing the wild snowdrops so that they spread, but so worth it.
Pauline, your woodland has always been an inspiration to me. I love how the snowdrops intermingle with the hellebores and other woodland plants. So beautiful!
Thank you so much Deb for your kind comment, we both love our woodlands don’t we! The snowdrops do seed around and so do the other woodland plants so a nice mixture made by nature is better than anything I could plant! The snowdrop seeds take longer to flower, I have to wait about 3 years to see the results, for quicker results it means splitting them.
It looks beautiful. I love the way the snowdrops are stepping in to help you out, so much nicer than the weeds which pop up here!
I can’t believe I missed this post for as long as I did. Two things I look forward to in the spring are seeing how your snowdrops have come along and seeing how the fritillaria are doing!
Hope things dry out a bit for you, but it looks like you’re enjoying things regardless 🙂
You’re very kind Frank, thank you. I do spend quite a bit of time weeding in the woodland so that I’m ready for the snowdrops, I just made it in time this year! Never fear, the fritillaries are up and showing all their lovely spear shaped leaves, but no flowers yet, it is still a bit too soon. We have a storm coming from your way which will arrive tonight so I’ve just been out photographing the woodland again in case it all gets battered, just in time for another post!