The Vagaries of the Weather

One or two warm days saw us working in the garden. The Zebra grass Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’ was cut back, care already needed to avoid the new growth, so was the Trachelospermum jasmanoides, the milky sap already rising. One or two of their fascinating seed heads remained, hanging like twin-beans from one stalk. As they change from green to brown, the seedpods open to reveal hundreds of parasol-like seeds packed neatly inside; their fluffy heads silky to the touch. 

Herbaceous growth of last year, left to protect the basal growth from frost and cold was removed, early signs of growth was evident, once down amongst the plants. Buds swell on the Cornus florida, and the Liquidambar. So much from Sussex is late. Twitter friends are posting envious pictures of their hellebores and snowdrops, standing tall and flowering well. Here they still sulked for most of February. The positioning of my hellebores in Sussex was always beneath deciduous shrubs, so that foliage was gradually decomposing, as we never removed the leaves from the borders. In fact we added to the depth when we raked the paths. Mushroom compost was also added to these borders.

The placement of the hellebores here is very difficult. They are in shade, though maybe too much and in the winter if the soil is cold it remains so. Now Philip has raised the canopy of the established Acer I might move them. Here at least they would have a little more light and very little direct sun even in the height of summer along with the added bonus of the leaf mould from the Acer. I’ll have to make a decision because every year my clumps brought from Sussex get smaller and smaller. I do not have many but what I do have a very special.

Within days of this flurry in the garden the temperatures dropped to minus two or more and we had snow. Today as I write on the 1^st March, the weather is warm once more. Oh the vagaries of the weather.