The weather this last week has been milder, thank goodness and working in the woodland, in the sunshine, has been an absolute pleasure. I finally got all the leaves cleared from where the special snowdrops are planted, pulled up miles of ivy that had spread far too far and weeded it all. So far, so good. I then needed a leaf mould mulch to be spread over all the beds and also bark chippings to be laid on the path round the woodland to finish it off. A quick email to Joseph, who has been doing odd jobs for me since he came and repaired my roof tiles and conservatory roof last March, he had a look at what I wanted and came last Monday to do it all. It now looks beautiful, all ready for the ladies in the village to come on February 14th.
I’ll start with some long views of the snowdrops that are flowering at the moment. The snowdrops are Magnet on the left and Atkinsii on the right.
Looking at the right hand end of the woodland with Little John at the right hand side. There are lots of snowdrops that will be flowering in 2 weeks time.
The snowdrops contrast so well with the mulch and stand out beautifully. The darker brown is the wood chip path that Joeph laid. The old path must have been laid over 10 yrs ago, it lasted well.
This is looking at the left hand end of the woodland, with G. Hobsons Choice and in the front Ivy Cottage Corporal.
The hill at the end which slopes up to a Devon bank is now nicely covered with various snowdrops and other small woodland bulbs.
I can’t call it the new path any more really, it must have been made at least 5 yrs ago, all snowdrops have settled in nicely and are increasing well.
I hope you agree with me that Joseph did a wonderful job finishing off the woodland for me. I’ll now show some of the other plants that are flowering at the moment.
Cyclamen coum is flowering nicely on the rockery at the moment.
Iris unguicularis is still opening more flowers, it has been amazing, absolutely covered with flowers. I think thanks must go to the high temperatures last summer, it must have thought it was back in the Mediterranean!
Iris reticulata Pauline is another that I think has benefitted from being baked last summer, it’s never been so good!
Hellebores are beginning to flower.
Soon they will all be displaying their beautiful flowers.
and the Chaenomeles just gets better and better by the back door.
The sunshine today tempted some of the snowdrops to open their flowers to show their inner markings. I’ll show some of them here, but I must keep six back for my post on Saturday!
G. Angelique with very small markings on the inner petals.
G. Magnet, the first “special” I bought many years ago. It has increased ever so well.
G. Ivy Cottage Corporal, so named because of its markings.
G Lapwing has increased well and has nice inner markings.
G. Jack in the Green has now opened, I showed it last Saturday but it was tightly shut then. The green of the leaves stands out from all the other snowdrops with blue/grey leaves.
These are just a few of the snowdrops that are flowering at the moment, more will appear on Saturday for the usual Six on Saturday post. Now that the woodland is neat and tidy once more, thanks to Joseph, I can now get on with doing the same again with the rockery and hopefully have that finished in 2 weeks time. February is anything but dull once the little bulbs start flowering and it just keeps on getting better and better. The birds think that spring is on its way, they are pairing up, the plants think that spring is on its way and so do I, it won’t be long before I’m rushing to try and keep up with it all once more, for now though, I’m just going to enjoy it all. Yes, February is very welcome, much better than January!
Oh Pauline , it was such a treat getting an extra peak at your lovely garden ! Thank you. I think you have found a treasure in Joseph and am sure your village ladies will appreciate all your hard work . Yes, you can really feel the approach of Spring in the garden now. Isn’t it exciting!
Thank you Mary for your kind comments, I just hope we aren’t under a foot of snow in 2 weeks time! Joseph certainly worked hard to get it all completed, I can now sit back and enjoy it all. Spring is on its way, I think we just have to wait a bit longer as winter isn’t finished with us yet!
Lovely to hear that you got some nice warm sunshine Pauline, what a treat. All your hard work in the woodland, and not forgetting Joseph of course, has made it really beautiful. I hope we will get to see more of your hellebores Pauline. They are one of my favourites.
The woodland is nice and sheltered Denise, now I’m working on the rockery I get the full blast of the north wind and it is cold in spite of the sunshine! There are lots of hellebores to come, you will certainly see them soon!
How splendid it all looks, bursting into bloom. You are well ahead of me!xxx
Having people coming round in mid February, certainly makes me get a move on with all the work needed Dina! hopefully it will look even better by mid February.x