04 February 2010 - Snow, Snowdrops and Hellebores

The snow has left us for now and we are taking advantage and tidying up as much as we can. I love this time of year as I wait excitedly for every emerging snowdrop.

There is always a worry that a special may fail to appear but so far we are looking good. As I look up through the woodland from my window I can see the spreading carpet taking on more white each day and areas that we divided last year are rewarding us with healthy white heads, stoically refusing to be bent by our very heavy snow fall.

The snow was lovely and breathtakingly beautiful for a while but lost its charm after a week when its inconvenience became more pressing. Even the children tired of snowmen and slides and were quite happy to return to school when it cleared.

Both the snowdrops and the hellebores are oblivious to the white stuff. It is just the gardeners that complain! I think that these two stars will synchronise beautifully this year and already the purple and white combinations look good enough to eat.

The usual early arrivals were on queue. Three ships, Faringdon Double, Peter Gatehouse, Colossus and Earliest of all began before Christmas and cheered us in the relentless demands of the festive season. But now the really absorbing time has started as the specials begin to reveal themselves.

Several of the favourites John Gray, Limetree, Lyn and the sandersii group are lovely in their early groups and I can see promising shoots on nearly everything else. I am really looking forward to Margaret Biddulph and Rosemary Burnham and of course 'Cerney' which is showing several shoots. I have a wish list this year for Yaffle, Vera Trum, Mr Blobby and Warley Longbow. Lets hope!

We have had two sad losses so far this year. Huggy my brother's huge, soppy Newfoundland left us last week and it will be an age before we stop stepping over her next to the Aga. And one of our ancient Beech trees fell and narrowly missed our courtyard wall. It really hurts when you loose a tree that has been around for around 250 years. I am looking at the other two companions with an anxious eye.

It may be registering 4 degrees but the sun is shining and the snowdrops are looking even more inviting and I really must go back out and tidy a little more.

posted by B Johnson @ Thursday, February 04, 2010   0 comments (Post a Comment)