Rising Sap

Early spring flowers are now awaking, starting to stir and will soon burst into bloom to give the garden some much-needed masses of colour to bring it alive. The sap is slowly starting to rise with the anticipation of a new season just around the corner and there are plenty of plants to look out for during the month of February.

Regular readers of my column will know that one of my favourite flowers is the Iris, and in February the early-flowering dwarf Iris makes its appearance. This dainty little flower grows only to a height of about six inches and comes in a variety of colours from yellow, blue or purple and usually has pretty markings on its petals. They’re best grown in a sunny spot and perhaps in a raised bed or container so that their beauty can be admired at close hand.

One early flowing Narcissus is the Narcissus cyclamineus, the Wild Narcissus. This is also a very dainty plant and grows to six to eight inches tall and has golden yellow flowers with swept-backed petals. Grow this vigorous perennial bulb in rock or a woodland garden or alternatively you could naturalise it in your lawn.

The Crocus has been a favourite in many of our gardens and there is an early variety to start colouring up the garden this month called Crocus tommasinianus. This pretty goblet shaped flower comes in a choice of colours of white, lilac and purple.

Primrose-Polyanthus primulas are a very diverse group of winter to spring flowering perennial that come in a wide range of bright colours. They are commercially grown for bedding or containers to produce early flowering plants and they remind me of pretty small Victorian posies and are plants to look out for during this month.

One particular Clematis that’ll be coming into flower around now is the Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’. This late winter flowering Clematis has creamy-white flowers with delightful red speckles. Grow this in sun, although it will tolerate dappled shade against a wall or through a deciduous tree to give winter interest.

A very useful early flowering shrub for the garden is the Chaenomeles, or better known as the Ornamental Quince. It’s quite a versatile shrub as it can tolerate a shady site and can be grown in a shrub border or be trained against a wall. This shrub has lovely dense clusters of cup-shaped flowers which come in a variety of colours from white to various shades of pink or apricot through to more brash shades of red. This shrub provides autumn interest when it produces its small apple-like fruits, Quince.

Even in the last month of winter our gardens can produce a cheery colourful sight with early flowering plants… a sure true sign that spring is on its way.

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Clematis - By Judy Fenyvesi - 27th April

If there’s one plant that I wouldn’t be without in my garden, then that has got to be the Clematis. This is such a useful and versatile climber and it can give an abundance of colour and vertical interest to any garden.

It is said that you can have clematis flowering for each month of the year. You can have winter flowering clematis, evergreen or deciduous clematis. There are Clematis for both sun and shade and you can choose whatever colour to suit your garden.

Clematis, I think are so pretty and look stunning growing over arches, up obelisks, trellises, walls and trees. Vigorous growing clematis such as the Montana are useful for growing over areas that you would like to hide, such as the garden shed, brick wall or a garage. The evergreen Clematis almandii is also useful for this purpose.

Clematis are little trouble to grow and give you good value for your money. You can even grow two clematis side by side, one to give you early seasonal colour and the other to give you mid to late summer colour.

The thing that clematis do like is to have their roots in the cool shade so at the base of the plant cover the soil either with a few cobbles, gravel, stone tiles or bits of paving slabs.

There are three pruning groups for clematis, and once you know which group your clematis is in, its simple.

Group one,are the early flowering varieties. These need less pruning that the next two groups. Prune after they have finished flowering around April- May time. Just prune out the dead and weak branches to maintain the vigour and good shape and framework of the plant.

Group two, are the bold large flowering varieties, which include the double, and semi-double petal flowers, and these mainly flower during the summer months. This group will need just partial pruning, so lightly prune back to a healthy pair of buds around February or early March.

Group three, are the late flowering Clematis that bloom from mid-summer until the autumn or even early winter if the weather is mild. This group you prune back hard in late winter to a strong pair of buds about 12-18” (30-45cm) above the ground.

For just a bit of annual pruning, Clematis will reward you with a spectacular abundance of fabulous coloured blooms that will give cheery joy to any gardener.

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