Hello The long winter has slowed down the development of many earlyflowering plants, so now we can enjoy them for longer during the lengthening days. That wasn’t very well put, but you know what I mean – if you have to set off early for work, at least now there’s enough daylight to appreciate the snowdrops and aconites – ditto towards the end of the day. The aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) are bright yellow like buttercups, and are usually the first of the spring bulbs to flower – good in bold drifts, carpeting the soil around deciduous trees and shrubs. In other words, you need a lot for a good display. Like the snowdrops, they don’t grow well from the dormant corms you can buy in the autumn – these are usually too dried up and withered to do very much. The time to buy them is around now, not as plants in flower pots – too expensive – but ‘in the green’. (A plant ‘in the green’ is one that has just finished flowering.) You can get them mail order from Peter Nyssen (peternyssen.com) and they are cheap enough to buy in quantity. Plant them as soon as they arrive. They immediately wilt and look very sad, but that’s no cause for concern – they are merely preparing for dormancy. Let them die back naturally, and they will reward you next year with sheets of golden yellow (and will then spread and seed themselves around, generally to great effect). I noticed mine in flower today, also the Christmas box (Sarcococca humilis), so called because it flowers in March, apparently. I am in two minds about this shrub. It would seem to have everything going for it – a neat habit (no higher than 45cm), healthy evergreen leaves, and white winter flowers that attract pollinating insects. At Dartington Hall in Devon, it is planted en masse to cover the ground in the extensive wooded area, thriving in the shade. But my specimen simply fails to make good growth and is scarcely any bigger now than when I bought it over ten years ago. It is, however, flowering prolifically, but on this matter too I have to part company with received opinion – I find the scent anything but appealing, rather cloying and overpowering, in fact. Other winterflowering shrubs include yellow Mahonia ‘Charity’, lanky like a supermodel but classy, and pink Viburnum ‘Dawn’ – both with cleaner scent than the sarcococca. The evergreen Viburnum tinus is dreary but probably essential in any garden. If you are buying this, be sure to choose one that’s covered in flowers – some specimens are rather stingy in this respect. Most people would also think the spotted laurel (Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’) equally dull, but I can never pass by mine without giving it a nod of appreciation – it is such a reliable shrub for a dank, shady area and always looks the picture of health. I’m running a day course at Farncombe Estate in the Cotswolds later in the month (Saturday 27 March) – The Productive Garden – and there are still a few places available. For more details, drop me an email or visit the website (www.farncombeestate.co.uk).
Have a great month Andrew andrewmikolajski.com BLOG: andrewmikolajski.wordpress.com