Are you bored with snowdrops yet?

Tags

Colesbourne Park, Cyclamen coum, Galanthus 'Rosemary Burnham', Sir Henry Elwes, snowdrops, The Plant Lover's Guide to Snowdrops

A sea of snowdrops at Colesbourne Park

If the answer to the title of this post is yes then you probably won’t want to continue reading. I know, I know, you can’t get stirred for galanthomania at this time of year. But lets face it, flowery delights in February are a little thin on the ground, we’ve all had enough of winter and are a bit desperate to see some signs of life in the garden. That’s not to take anything away from the beauty of snowdrops but I do think they owe a certain degree of their popularity to the fact that they bloom so early in the year and there is little else to compete for our attention. For a period of about four weeks from mid-February to mid-March gardens with collections of snowdrops are at their peak and it’s hard to not be blown away by the spectacular sight of carpets of these nodding white flowers as far as the eye can see. In fact it can trick you at first glance into thinking it has snowed and that it’s not actually thousands of flowers. Colesbourne Park in the Cotswolds is our nearest snowdrop heaven. Our last visit, a few years ago, was marred by the discovery the camera battery had barely any charge left and, at the time, we didn’t have a spare. But I’m always happy for an excuse to return to a great garden.

Galanthus ‘Rosemary Burnham’

I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea to have plant labels dotted about and it does make photography a little difficult.  At somewhere like Colesbourne, which is displaying a collection of different varieties, it’s incredibly useful. In fact I’m increasingly finding myself scrabbling around in gardens hoping there’s a label somewhere so I can find out what a particular plant is called. It’s even more important with a plant where the distinctions between some varieties are not that obvious at first glance and perhaps, in the case of snowdrops, even after a few glances. I did hear several ‘they all look the same to me’ comments whispered among visitors as they passed by. I was of this thinking a few years ago when I was just happy to see clumps of snowdrops, but recently I have been slightly bitten by the galanthus bug. When I say slightly I mean I can spot and appreciate the differences between a collection of snowdrops now, but I’m not yet prepared to spend £25 on a tiny pot with one flower and a few leaves in it, let alone the £1390 plus £4 postage paid yesterday for one bulb of Galanthus plicatus ‘Golden Fleece’. My new-found interest has been ignited partly from some of the blogs I read, and partly from Naomi Slade’s book The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops and the recent talk she gave at the Botanic Gardens in Wales. It was fascinating to wander around Colesbourne on Saturday with my newly appreciative eyes spotting varieties I now recognized and tuning my eyes into the subtle and not so subtle differences between the various varieties.

Galanthus ‘Jaquenetta’

When you first enter Colesbourne the gentle slope and woodland area is a sea of white. These areas are planted with the common snowdrop Galanthus nivalis, the scented variety ‘S. Arnott’, ‘Hippolyta’, ‘Ophelia’ and ‘James Backhouse’. All have formed substantial clumps and are divided in the summer to increase their populations. The initial snowdrop collection was started by Henry John Elwes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but it was largely forgotten about until the current owners of Colesbourne, Sir Henry Elwes (the great-grandson of Henry John) and his wife Carolyn, started to uncover plants and build up the collection. We were lucky enough to have a quick chat with Sir Henry and glean a little bit of his expert knowledge. Apparently the best time to divide your snowdrops is in July. At this point in the year there is nothing to be seen of the snowdrops above ground as all the foliage has died back, so at Colesbourne they employ a basic system using coloured sticks. Yellow sticks are placed near the clumps as the leaves die back and white sticks are used to mark areas where there are, as yet, no snowdrops. Then in July they lift the clumps, divide them and replant. When I asked him what was the best method to introduce snowdrops into a garden he said it was with potted bulbs at this time of year.

A charming spring planter

Small groups of the rarer varieties are planted closer to the house, in borders, raised beds and planters. Displayed this way it’s easier to appreciate what makes them so special. My own favourites were the unusual ivory, green-tinged variety Galanthus ‘Rosemary Burnham’ and the green, frilly petticoated ‘Jaquenetta’ (see above photos). I loved the stone troughs that were dotted about with snowdrops planted alongside iris and cyclamen. Snowdrops can be tricky in containers but large ones like this trough would be worth trying.

Cyclamen coum

Snowdrops aren’t the only attraction to Colesbourne. They have incorporated other winter and early spring-flowering plants. I don’t think I’ve seen such large vibrant clusters of Cyclamen coum, the shocking pink flowers shouting out at you. There’s a growing collection of hellebores, gloriously scented winter honeysuckles and viburnum. It’s a magical spot. Apart from the gentle hum of visitors chatting, the valley in which the estate sits is incredibly peaceful and there’s a real feeling of modern life not intruding. This is an old estate with classic parkland, mossy stone balustrades and urns, and a tiny church. The lake, created to provide hydro-electric power for the house, is stunningly and ethereally blue. It’s believed the colour is due to the colloidal clay in the water.

Colesbourne lake

There’s still time to kick off the garden visiting season with some fantastic displays across the country of snowdrops and early spring flowers. I’d love to hear about your favourite gardens to visit at this time of year.

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Scent in the Garden

Tags

Sarcococca, Scent in the Garden, Snowdrop 'S. Arnott', snowdrops, Vibunum x bodnantense 'Dawn', Viburnum tinus 'Gwenllian', winter flowering honeysuckle

Scented narcissi

I didn’t inherit any fragrant plants when I took on my garden and I’ll admit scent hasn’t been given enough priority when I’ve been out plant buying. My tastes and ideas have changed from the fairly inexperienced gardener I was eight years ago and I’ve learnt a huge amount in that time, not just about plants but also my own tastes and the type of garden I want to create. Up until we moved here I had gardened mainly in pots to accommodate our frequent moves and the fact that we were renting. Container gardening was a brilliant way to assuage my need to grow, but it’s quite a different discipline to growing in soil and planting with a sense of permanence. Many of my ideas now are driven by my love of cutting plant material to bring indoors to fill vases, and scent is playing an increasing role in these choices. Along with Sue at Backlane Notebook I’m hoping that a ‘Scent in the Garden’ meme will encourage a focus on scented plants, will make me look at this extra dimension to my garden and will uncover some fantastically fragrant plants over the coming months.

For the February instalment of the ‘Scent in the Garden’ I have both Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ and Viburnum tinus flowering, as they have been since the end of November. The freezing temperatures haven’t been enough to discourage the winter-flowering honeysuckle from blooming. It has a tendency in very cold weather to retreat and withhold new flowers until the weather warms up. A few stems have provided a lovely addition to some stunning Cornish scented narcissi, which are a far superior Valentine’s Day gift than any red rose.

February scent

As for new appearances, there’s sarcococca, or winter box, which smells fabulous. It was just coming into flower in mid-January, but now it is in full bloom. It’s planted by the path which leads from the gate to the front door, so wafts of scent fill the air as you pass by. It’s a relatively new addition to the garden at just two years old and it is still quite small, so at the moment the air needs to be still and relatively warm for the fragrance to come to the attention of your nostrils, otherwise you need to bend down. A garden in the village has two sarcococca plants about a metre high which I covet. They are currently pumping out their heady perfume which means you can smell them well before they come into sight. One day that will be the scene in my own front garden.

In terms of scent, one of the biggest revelations for me in recent years has been the discovery that certain varieties of snowdrops are deliciously fragrant. Most of the snowdrops in my garden are the common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis. It’s a great variety – easy to come by, fairly inexpensive and it bulks up readily to form good-sized clumps, the one thing it lacks is scent. I had heard of snowdrops which smelt of honey, but it was only this year, when I attended a talk by the author and snowdrop connoisseur Naomi Slade, that I had the opportunity to sniff a selection of snowdrops. Naomi had brought with her a collection of snowdrops in pots to illustrate the different forms – those with short, strap-like leaves, flowers with layers of petals like a ballerina’s tutu and tall-stemmed blooms with large, nodding heads. As the pots were passed around I smelt each one and made a note of those with the surprisingly potent perfume. ‘S. Arnott’ was the variety which stood out and it immediately went to the top of my must-have plant list.

I probably shouldn’t be making plant purchases until we’re settled in a new garden and I was about to resist the temptation of the plant stand at a recent visit to Colesbourne (more of which in a later post) when Wellyman encouraged me to make a cheeky purchase. He can be quite a persuasive influence when it comes to plant nurseries, but, to be honest, it doesn’t take much to break down my resistance. So here is the latest addition to the scented garden. It’s an exquisite flower and hopefully one day, in the not too distant future, I’ll have enough of clumps of ‘S. Arnott’ so I can pick a few tiny nosegays of snowdrops to bring indoors.

Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ (copyright Ian Curley)

If you’d like to join in with ‘Scent in the Garden’ just post about what’s perfuming the air in your garden/growing space and leave a comment here or at Sue’s blog Backlane Notebook with a link to your post.

Happy sniffing!

 

Reawakening

Tags

granny squares, helelbores, Michael Pollan, seed sowing, snowdrops

A shy hellebore

Slowly but surely the garden is emerging from its winter slumber. On gloomy, grey days the nodding heads of snowdrops glow; on gin-clear days they sparkle and glisten. Hellebores hang their flower heads as if they are too shy to display their beauty. The slender green shoots of crocus bulbs are appearing. One lone crocus is ahead of the pack, its buttermilk-coloured petals opening to the first hints of warm sunshine.

I, too, am experiencing a reawakening. I feel a bit like a bear poking its head out of its winter hibernation home, sniffing the air, rubbing its eyes and deciding whether it’s warm enough to emerge yet. Up until Sunday I would have said no. If I was a bear I’d have retreated inside, had a good scratch and eaten lots of marmalade. That’s what bears do, isn’t it? As I’m not, I put more logs on the fire, I read, I crocheted, I wrote and I ordered seeds. Too many seeds, as usual.

Then it was if that first tantalizing hint of spring arrived. Sunday was a stunner. Crystal clear skies and warm sunshine. Well, when I say warm it was 8⁰C, but that felt positively tropical now there was no north wind to add windchill to the freezing temperatures of the previous week. After weeks of wondering whether my garden mojo would return I was outside filling seed trays with compost and preparing for the first seed to be sown. The compost was cold. Cold enough to make my fingers numb. No seed would be encouraged into life in this, so the seed trays and modules have spent the last few days warming up on the heated propagator and near a radiator. It’s imparted an interesting smell to the kitchen, but hopefully it has created a much more welcoming place to sow my seeds this week.

There’s a lot written at this time of year about whether to sow or not. Most of us are so eager to start growing. The conditions aren’t ideal yet for many seeds and sowing too early can lead to problems later on with a backlog of plants too big to look after indoors but it’s not quite warm enough for them to be planted outdside. Some plants however do need an early start. They can be slow to germinate or just need a long growing season to do their thing. For me this includes flowers for my cutting patch such as ageratum, statice and antirrhinums. Any plants which say on the packet they will flower in their first year from an early start are worth sowing in the coming weeks. They’ll need a bit of warmth in order to germinate and as much daylight as you can give them. But, as we’re only six weeks away from the spring equinox and seven weeks from the clocks going forward, light levels are definitely improving. I also like to get sowing now as I know how frantic March can be. I have limited space so starting off some plants now is one way of staggering the seed sowing demands on the horizon.

Warming up the compost

Obviously a few sunny days in February doesn’t mean we can shake off winter just yet – as I’m writing this post, the gloom of winter has returned, with an impenetrable grey sky looming over head. But I’m going to embrace the last few weeks (hopefully) of winter and savour any time in front of the fire. My winter project – a crocheted granny square blanket – is nearly completed. It’s been an epic. All 208 squares are finished and I’m in the process of stitching them together. Then I just need to edge it with a border. The aim is to complete it for the start of March. I hate having unfinished projects lying around, so I know it needs to be completed before the garden grabs my attention.

Granny square blanket coming together

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read in my lunch break. As work has been a bit crazy over the last few weeks (the pattern of freelance work is very much like the frequency of buses) my utopian idea of reading every day hasn’t come to fruition. But my resolution hasn’t been a complete right-off and I have managed to devote some time to this gem of a gardening book.

Michael Pollan – Second Nature

Second Nature by Michael Pollan is a fascinating and wittily written book by this American author. It’s worth reading simply for the hilarious description of his war with a woodchuck which sets up home in his garden – I laughed so much I snorted my tea. One of the benefits of working from home is that nobody saw that moment of inelegance. The book is full of deeper, thought-provoking ideas too – our love of roses, a gardener’s relationship with trees and man’s desire to tame nature – with each chapter following the creation of his own garden. I would heartily recommend reading it. Stop drinking your tea though when it comes to the woodchuck bit.

 

A Christmas Read – Snowdrops and Edibles

Tags

A Plant Lover's Guide to Snowdrops, Colesbourne Park, galanthophiles, Gardening books for Christmas presents, Groundbreaking Food Gardens, Michelle Chapman, Naomi Slade, painswick rococo gardens, snowdrops, Veg Plotting

The Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops

Time for reading this year has been hard to come by but when I have managed to grab a moment the two books by bedside have proved to be fascinating reading. A Plant Lover’s Guide to Snowdrops by Naomi Slade is perfectly pitched as a present for gardeners this Christmas. It’s the fourth in a series of books by the publisher Timber Press which focus on a particular genus – the others include dahlias, sedums and salvias. Naomi’s book is an enchanting mix of her love affair with these plants, a botanical study, potted history and guide to growing. Most of all I loved the approachable style of the writing. Sometimes books which are focused on one plant don’t hold my attention and can feel quite dry. Naomi has struck a great balance between being both informative and accessible.

The gallery of snowdrops – a selection of hybrids, species and cultivars – is a fabulous showcase for this plant and it includes a guide to how easy or difficult the various snowdrops are to grow. A particularly good idea, as some snowdrops can be quite expensive. I visited a snowdrop day several years ago and was gobsmacked to see the price tags – £10, £15, even £30 – on tiny pots with no more than a small cluster of leaves and a tiny flower stalk appearing. I would want to know my investment stood a good chance of establishing in my garden for those sorts of prices.

Seductive snowdrops

The diversity of the genus and the sometimes tiny, almost imperceptible, differences have made snowdrops a perfect plant for collectors. Galanthophiles as their known are incredibly passionate about these little flowers. I have always loved them. They’re the plant which brightens the January and February garden and they give hope that the winter will come to an end. Seeing them planted en masse at Painswick or Colesbourne is my first garden visit of the year and gives me the chance to escape outdoors. But I would say that I’ve never considered myself a galanthophile. I have slowly built up pockets of snowdrops in my garden but they are all simple Galanthus nivalis, or the common snowdrop. Having read this book though I am considering expanding my collection to at least more than one type of snowdrop. I was very taken by ‘Blewbury Tart’ and ‘Boyd’s Double’ but as both don’t include ‘easy’ in the cultivation section I think I might start with ‘Wendy’s Gold’ with it’s striking yellow markings.

The book is peppered with interviews from snowdrop experts, nursery owners and collectors and fascinating snippets on topics from snowdrop theft to how the bulbs increase using a kind of natural mathematics. It was interesting to see that galanthophilia isn’t just a British phenomenon with the power of this little plant to capture our hearts reaching across Europe, America and Australia. The information on how to grow is comprehensive, as is the guide on where to see snowdrops in the UK and further afield, with lists of snowdrop related events. And, if you’ve been inspired to branch out and add a few other snowdrops to your garden, Naomi has included a guide of where to buy.

Groundbreaking Food Gardens

The second book Groundbreaking Food Gardens is a really interesting concept. It consists of a collection of 73 garden designs created by passionate growers, from community gardeners and professional horticulturalists to garden bloggers and TV presenters, all based around the theme of edibles. The book is published by American publishers Storey so there is a bias towards North American contributors but it does include gardens designed by British bloggers Michelle Chapman of Veg Plotting and Emma Cooper. There are gardens to inspire whether you have a tiny balcony or the space for a biodynamic farm and everything in between. There’s an edible hedge, a terraced hillside, a design based on Asian vegetables and a cocktail garden.

Veg Plotting’s edible garden design

Our very own Michelle Chapman has taken her 52 Week Salad Challenge, which proved to be so popular on her blog, and designed planting plans based on the idea. Successional growing and making the most out of a small space are challenges most gardeners face, both of which Michelle neatly combines in her suggestions. Certainly if you’re fed up of soggy bags of salad leaves from the supermarket this is the design for you. Emma Cooper’s idea is based around creating a self-sustaining garden with an emphasis on space for recycling nutrients including composting, comfrey and chickens.

Initially I thought that because the book was mainly aimed at the American market it wouldn’t feel relevant to my own growing conditions. However, as I read on, I found it is the inspiration it offers and the insight into how growers in another part of the world view gardening and growing edibles that are the attractions to this book. It would have been nice to have had some photographs – the book is illustrated instead – but I understand the logistics of this, with so many gardens included and over such a large geographical area, that this would have been difficult and expensive to do.

So, if you’re starting to think of gifts for gardening friends this Christmas or compiling your list for Santa then perhaps one, or both of these books is just what you’re looking for.

Both books are available online or from your local bookshop.

Many thanks to Rebecca O’Malley at Storey Publishing for these review copies.

Spick and Span

Tags

Hellebores, snowdrops

Emerging snowdrops

I had a bit of a frantic tidy up this weekend. It had something to do with lying in bed all last week and having too much time on my hands to think about all those jobs I wanted to be getting on with but just didn’t feel up to doing. I do like things to be tidy. It stems from living in tiny places at university and then a minute flat when we first got married. I hate not being able to find things, can’t abide clutter and I definitely believe in a tidy place equals a tidy mind. Recently though I’ve been so busy certain cupboards and drawers have become a bit unruly. You know the thing, you open the cupboard door and things fall out but because you’re in a hurry you just wedge everything back in again until the next time, when of course it all falls out again. Well it was all starting to annoy me so I spent Saturday whizzing around like Mary Poppins, cleaning and reorganising.

It wasn’t just the house that had suffered a bit of neglect over the last month or so. The front and back gardens were looking a bit worse for wear. Granted it’s December and they are unlikely to look at their best but there was a general soggy scruffiness that just looked messy. The main spur though was the sight of the first little clump of snowdrops that we spotted in the churchyard in town on Saturday. It seems pretty early but it got me thinking about my own snowdrops and whether they were showing any signs of an appearance.

On Sunday morning I had a bit of a poke around in the borders and there they were, hidden under a pile of decaying alchemilla foliage. They’re just little green shoots at the moment with no real signs of white yet but even so it was a great discovery.

I don’t tend to tidy up the garden too much in autumn, preferring to leave seed heads to catch any frost we may get, and this year was no exception. It can be good to leave the top growth of some plants to provide the crown with a degree of protection from the winter weather and, of course, plant debris can provide a great place for ladybirds and other insects to overwinter and ultimately the leaves will break down and enrich the soil. However, as with most things there are downsides and just as piles of leaves may act as a warm duvet for beneficial insects so too are they for those creatures you don’t necessarily want in your garden such as slugs and earwigs. For me, it’s really down to personal preference and available time as to whether to clean up the garden or not before spring. I was pleased though to get my hands on quite a few slugs and some snails eggs all tucked away under a soggy geranium. At least that’s a few less of the mollusc foes for the garden next year.

Hellebore flower buds

It seemed a shame though to have snowdrops pushing through and not be able to see them because they were smothered under dying plants and so Wellyman and I spent Sunday clearing up both gardens. With secateurs at hand, asters, alchemilla and geraniums were cut back. Some plants were left though. Sedums, heleniums, achilleas and grasses were left for their structural qualities. These have looked great over the last few weeks covered in frost and they will provide some height and interest in the garden well into the new year.

One part of the garden had become a bit of a no go area after it had been taken over by Verbena bonariensis plants which had self-seeded everywhere. I’d left them to flower over the summer and into autumn but it all just looked too much of a mess now. They all came out to reveal the winter flowering honeysuckle coming into flower.

In my front garden the tidy up allowed the Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ in all its full candyfloss-pink glory to take centre stage. It felt great to get out into the garden, into the surprisingly warm sunshine and get some fresh air and exercise after a week stuck in bed. It felt even better once we’d finished to see the garden all spruced up and ready for those spring bulbs to push through.

Carpets of Snowdrops

Tags

galanthus, painswick rococo gardens, snowdrops, spring bulbs

Snowdrops at Painswick

I have one or two clumps of snowdrops starting to flower in my own garden and as much as I am charmed by their appearance, they cannot compete with the sight of carpets of snowdrops that will grace many gardens over the next month or so.

I am lucky enough to be within visiting distance of two of the most famous snowdrop displays in the UK, Painswick Rococo Gardens and Colesbourne and nothing can beat the spectacular sight of thousands of snowdrop flowers en masse.

Snowdrops en masse at Painswick

Galanthophiles, otherwise known as snowdrop lovers, flock every February to Colesbourne in Gloucestershire, once the home of one of the most famous galanthophiles, Henry John Elwes. There are now 250 varieties at Colesbourne, the first named Galanthus elwesii was brought back from Turkey by Henry in 1874. His family still live at Colesbourne and the present owners have done much to build the collection.

Colesbourne snowdrops (image taken from snowdrop.org.uk)

Snowdrops for some reason seem to appeal to the collector. I have to admit that I find it difficult to see the difference between some of the varieties and yet there are those who will pay up to £25 for a pot of Galanthus ‘Lapwing’. I do, however understand why they are such a loved plant. They are one of the first flowers to appear and are hardy little things often poking up through the snow and frost. They signal a change in the seasons, with a much longed for spring on it’s way.

Colesbourne isn’t just about snowdrops though. Other spring bulbs feature such as cyclamen, crocus, daffodils and muscari, along with an excellent range of hellebores. When we visited last year I was particularly impressed with the number of winter flowering honeysuckle plants dotted around the garden, their scent was sublime. If you fancy taking a plant away with you there is a good selection and plenty that don’t cost £25. Interestingly, they dig up their bulbs when they are dormant and pot them up ready for you to plant when you get home. They believe they do better this way as there is less root damage than transplanting them when they are in the green.

Painswick is another place worth a visit to see snowdrops. The garden was designed in the 1740s in what became known as a ‘rococo style’ but by 1970 it had become an overgrown jungle. Garden historians became interested in Painswick and the owner set in place a restoration project using a painting of the gardens from 1748. It is thought that John Atkins, a retired nurseryman living in an estate cottage was the first to introduce snowdrops to Painswick. It now has one of the largest naturalistic plantings of the bulb.

I love visiting gardens and by January I am always starting to feel withdrawal symptoms, so it is great that there are places that celebrate late winter and early spring and give us gardeners, who have been cooped up all winter, an opportunity to get out  and be inspired.

I unfortunately remembered when trying to find the photos for Colesbourne that the battery on our camera died that day, which was and still is very annoying. Oh well, I guess it’s a good excuse for a return visit.

It felt like spring, it doesn’t now

Tags

daffodils, flowering plants, Prince Charles, snowdrops

Frosty garden

I woke up this morning to the hardest frost of the winter so far but this was in stark contrast to the weather we’ve had the rest of the week here in Wales. A mild and sunny week tempted me out into the garden to tackle the dead foliage and seedheads that were starting to make the garden look a bit messy.

As I worked my way around the garden with my secateurs I could see the effects the mild winter has had. New buds and shoots were emerging all over the place. As I pulled out old Alchemilla foliage, patches of snowdrops appeared. Clumps of daffodils were discovered, along with the first signs of one of my favourite plants Dicentra spectabilis alba. A tiny blue flower had been encouraged to open on Pulmonaria ‘Blue Ensign’, there were shoots of Gladiolus communis byzanntinus and Nectaroscordum.

Gladiolus communis byzantinus shoots

Mmmmmm…. this all felt too early. Much as I am eager to see the first signs of growth I was looking at the plants and telling them it was too early. Do other people talk to their plants? I know Prince Charles does but it surely can’t just be me and His Royal Highness. Anyway perhaps I got carried away just like the plants and I should have waited a little longer to start the tidy up because some cold wintry weather has arrived and I’m now worried the plants will suffer. In effect I’ve taken away their duvet and then left them to fend for themselves.

Frosted sedum shoots

The early flowering plants will be fine. They have adapted to cope with the fluctuations in weather that happen as winter passes into spring. It is the later flowering plants that have been encouraged into early growth that I’m worried about. But as a gardener you just have to learn that there is little you can do about the weather and that plants are often tougher than we think. Some plants have proteins in their cells that act as antifreeze protecting them from harsh winter weather. And if I hadn’t tidied things up I would have missed out on these little beauties….

Sweet little snowdrops

Plant of the Moment – Winter Flowering Honeysuckle

Tags

Colesbourne Park, RHS plant finder, snowdrops, winter flowering honeysuckle

Winter flowering honeysuckle

I love nature. Even on the darkest, dampest December day it can still produce something to make me smile, which is why winter flowering honeysuckle is my plant of the moment.

On the way to the shed today I noticed my winter flowering honeysuckle was indeed flowering. I got quite excited looking around the plant to see if there were any suitable branches to pick for the house.

I’ll admit as plants go it doesn’t have a lot going for it. Its leaves are a non-descript green and a plain oval shape. The plant itself grows into a fairly straggly shape and for most of the year it sits there contributing very little to the garden. But from December to March it produces flowers with the most amazing perfume. The flowers are small, like miniature honeysuckle blooms but they certainly pack a punch. The scent is heady like Philadelphus or citrus blossom and is very much welcome at this time of year.

My own plant was grown from a sucker that was taken from my local horticulture college. I was a student at the time, I don’t just randomly raid their grounds for plants I hasten to add. It has established well and this is the first year it has been big enough for me to pick branches from it.

There are 2 types of winter flowering honeysuckle – Lonicera fragrantissima and Lonicera x purpusii. Purpusii is a hybrid of fragrantissima. Both are deciduous or semi-evergreen depending on the weather and microclimate. Both grow to about 3 metres by 2 metres and both produce creamy white flowers with yellow anthers in winter and early spring. I’m not sure which one mine is but it doesn’t matter too much since they are so similar.

We visited Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire in February to see its famous display of snowdrops, which were impressive but I was most taken by their collection of winter flowering honeysuckles that were dotted about the grounds. I haven’t seen so many in one place.

The gardens were packed with galanthophiles and gardeners desperate for their first signs of spring after such a long winter but I didn’t see anyone stop to smell the amazing winter honeysuckles. Their branches covered in tiny white flowers may not have looked as impressive as the snowdrops but they missed a real treat.

For nurseries stocking winter flowering honeysuckles take a look at the RHS plant finder.