Unlike gardening magazines, which are always published at least a month in advance, my diary page is written in retrospect. You won’t be surprised
then that following one of the coldest winter’s on record there is still not much of note in my garden.
If you look very carefully though, the signs of spring are at last here.
On this the final day of February the sky is blue, ladybirds are sunning their wings and bees are flying. Snowdrops are still in their prime and emerging tips of herbaceous plants are just visible.
The highlight of my month has been a guided walk around Beth Chatto's woodland garden to see the many different varieties of snowdrops that flourish there. The sight was inspirational and I learnt that there are currently around 200 species and named cultivars. ‘Galanthophiles’ are prepared to spend huge sums on rare and unusual forms – in 2009 one single bulb was sold at auction for £250.00!
Now for once, I feel quite virtuous! |
