Any plant that flowers in January is a gem as far as I’m concerned, they are so precious, flowering at a time of year when most plants are still sleeping through the cold spell. A walk round half the garden is always worth it, there are little treasures to be found hiding in the dappled shade in the woodland or in the sunshine by the house.
I’ll start my walk as usual, by the back door where the chaenomeles is going from strength to strength in spite of our frosty nights.
Hellebores by the front door have decided it is time to open alongside Galanthus Mrs McNamara.
More Hellebores by the front door, a very shady spot.
The back garden and woodland are where most of my winter flowering plants are. This Hellebore is by the corner where the old school is.
Lots more Arabis flowers on the rockery have opened since New Year’s Day.
Galanthus Midwinter is still flowering.
A couple more Hellebores in the flower bed in front of the woodland.
This one has similar colours but the petal shapes are different.
Lots more snowdrops have flowered since New Year, this is G. Elwesii. I think I ought to get a wet cloth and clean my labels!
Robin Hood has never been so early here, at last it has met Little John!
A lovely neat double which has lost its label unfortunately. I think it is either Desdemona or Ophelia. Must do some homework!
In the woodland, Narcissus Rijnveld’s Early Sensation is still flowering away, opening more flowers all the time.
Little John is almost twice the size of Robin Hood. I think I must plant some of them together to appreciate the diffence. It is now almost over, but then, it has been flowering for 4 weeks!
On the opposite side of the path in the woodland is species Galanthus woronowii with bright green leaves, a much smaller variety.
Cyclamen hederifolium flowering in dark corners, but not spreading as fast as C. hederifolium.
G. St. Annes
G. Atkinsii was hidden under fern fronds until I cut them back.
G.Magnet really does need splitting, this must be the year when I do it!
G. Angelsey Abby is flowering much earlier than it usually does, this one is all white with no green markings.
Hobson’s Choice has multiplied well, it was planted fairly recently.
G. Lapwing is one of my favourites, they have opened so that you can just about see the lovely inner markings.
G. Diggory has just started flowering, soon they will be much more puffed up and the seersucker texture will be more apparent.
My wander continues in the back garden where Choysia ternata is flowering in the corner.
Back by the house, Iris unguicularis flowers happily under the dining room window.
More Iris, this time I. reticulata Pauline on the raised bed by the rockery. These are increasing nicely.
We are now back to the back door and it’s time to go in for a coffee to get warm!
Really I needed a warmer day so that the snowdrops open their flowers and we can see their markings, it was sunny but still very cold, no wonder most of them stayed shut! Our weather has been very mixed over the last few weeks, either icy winds from the Arctic or warm air coming from Africa, plants and humans don’t know what to do! Some days I have gone into the garden full of good intentions, but only lasted 5 minutes as my fingers were frozen in spite of wearing thick gardening gloves, other days it has been so warm, a coat wasn’t needed.
Thanks must go to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting this each month, do pay her a visit to see flowers from around the world.
Wonderful! Beautiful!
Happy Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day!
Thanks Lea and Happy Bloom Day to you!
You have a fine collection of galanthus. I think they are such amazing plants flowering in the dead of winter. Happy GBBD.
Thank you Lisa, I do seem to amassed quite a few snowdrops over the years, they keep me going through the dark days of winter.
All of my WInter favorites. I could probbaly grow the hellebores here, and you have made me want to try!
You must try Jayne, I’m sure they would be fine with you, they can take temperatures much lower than ours. I suppose the question is whether they can take your hot summers, but they should be ok in the shade.
So many January gems in your garden! Despite our relatively warm temperatures, my Galanthus and Iris reticulata are up but not in bloom. Hellebores are just starting. Happy GBBD and keep warm!
We have had a warm spell Peter, which I think brought the bulbs on but now we are due another cold spell with frost, so maybe things will slow down a bit. The weather can’t make up its mind what to do, I don’t know how the plants cope!
You have such wonderful clumps of snowdrops, Pauline – they really must like the conditions you grow them in. I had to chase a squirrel off my snowdop bed today – payback for cutting down the hazels I think! I shall put Little John on my wishlist to accompany my Robin Hood, and intend to replace my Anglesey Abbey which was recently lost. Do you find your clumps are all established enough not to be at risk?
Thank you Cathy, yes, they certainly seem to like the woodland conditions with lots of lovely leafmould! I don’t know about not being at risk, I still have the occasional clump that disappears, but then, I too have plenty of squirrels that enjoy digging! Some of my original snowdrops haven’t increased much, still only 3 or 4 flowers after a dozen or so years. Little John is a lovely snowdrop with beautiful inner markings. This year it flowered really early and stood out because it is so tall.
What wonderful blooms! I had to look up chaenomeles, and it is indeed related to what I thought it was, flowering quince. I have those, but they are just sticks right now.
Glad you like them all Lisa! Those little quince sticks will soon grow to beautiful flowering shrubs. My previous post tells how I managed to get them to flower all winter making a wonderful show for months.
It’s hard to believe you have so many lovely flowers so early in January. I do love hellebores and the other woodland flowers and all your flowers make me long for Spring!
Watching our weather forecasts recently Denise, I’ve noticed that Scandinavia has a big white blob over it and it is coming our way! I don’t think it will reach down here, but it might, then my flowers will be in a mess. The flowers do make me get out into the garden to see how many more have opened. Must go and have my daily wander now.
Yes, I am right in the middle of that white blob lol! Hope it doesn’t reach you. Enjoy your wander round the garden and the cup of coffee that follows?!
Yes, I had a feeling you might be! Europe seems to be having it pretty bad at the moment. The sun is shining so I think I’ll take my coffee with me!
So many beautiful blooms, just loved all the snowdrops and hellebores.xxx
Thanks Dina, all these lovely flowers are so precious at this time of year. More snowdrops are opening each day, along with the hellebores, it just keeps getting better.x
Your snowdrops are breathtaking …wish could be grown in our environment too .
Thanks Arun for your comment about snowdrops. I’m sure you can grow wonderful plants that I can’t!
Hi Pauline, your variable winter sounds much like mine! I love all your winter blooms, especially your snowdrops, which don’t do very well here and of which I have none. Yours make me envious! I also admire your Cyclamen, another plant that won’t do well in my garden. But other plants we share, especially the hellebores, which are one of my favorites.
We have more flowers opening every day Debs, it is well worth going for a wander each day. I just hope the weather doesn’t turn any colder and spoil it all ! Hellebores are one of my favourites too.
This is a wonderful example of why it is so interesting to be able to share gardens from so many different zones of our earth.!! Thank you for getting out and taking the pictures for all of us to share.
Lovely to hear from you Chris, I agree with what you say, different parts of the world have such different flowers and plants, it is always interesting to see what is happening in gardens elsewhere.