Love doing your own garden but lack the knowledge?
Whether you want beauty and colour all year round, a productive garden (fruit and vegetables), to propagate plants for your friends and neighbours, I can work alongside you to help you achieve all of this and more.
Consultations are created to suit your needs and are hands-on and practical.
You will learn the skills your garden needs to develop throughout the year and for years to come.
February, is a marvelous month for one of our best loved winter flowering plants to peak in this month. This marvelous plant being the humble snowdrop. You can visit many gardens the length and breadth of the country looking at great swathes of snowdrops flowering in woodland situations, on a (warm) day plus 2 degrees and the sun is shining through the trees most snowdrops produce a pleasant scent. However, look closer and not all snowdrops are the same…
We commonly grow in our gardens two varieties of snowdrop (Galanthus). These being Galanthus nivalis and Galanthus nivalis floro plena, and many of the gardens we visit at this time of year are predominantly are these two varieties. In some gardens that open to the public have more than these two varieties.
Ever since the 19th century, Snowdrops have been crossed and bred to produce literally hundreds of varieties from around 20 wild species and then the hybrids from these crosses have been hybridized too. Even here in Somerset we have a man James Allen who was the first person to start hybridizing wild snowdrops. Although James Allen created more than 500 varieties, some you can still buy today and those being Galanthus Merlin and Magnet. To learn more about this amazing man and the snowdrops he created then go to the Shepton Mallet snowdrop festival 12-18th February 2024. You can buy many types of snowdrops from specialist growers at this festival.
You can get snowdrops flowering as early as October and the last flowering late March. Snowdrops fall into four main groups single, double, green and gold.
Galanthus nivalis
Narrow grey green leaves up to 6 inches in length. The flowers are single, 3 larger outer petals and 3 inner petals. The inner petals have a green marking on the ends of the petals. Flowering from February in to March.
Galanthus nivalis floro-plena
The same as above with the exception that the leaves are shorter and the flowers are doubles. It also flowers later in February.
Galanthus Big Bertha
This snowdrop belongs to the elwesii and typically has broad glaucus grey leaves. The flower is large with a distinctive green marking on each of the three outer petals. The green on the inner three petals is also much more pronounced. Making this variety a green snowdrop.
Galanthus Ashwick Green
This a nivalis type and the same as Galanthus floro-plena with the exception to the outer larger petals have a green marking at the tip of each.
Galanthus Spindlestone Surprise
This a cross between Galanthus Plicatus and Nivalis sandersii. It makes a strong growing gold flowering snowdrop. The gold is highlighted on the ovary at the top of the flower and where green would be in the center is now gold (yellow)
As wonderful seeing sweeps of snowdrops flowering, there are other plants that flower at this time as well and helps complement the snowdrops in all their glory and makes our seeing the more enjoyable. Such plants as:
Crocus tommasinianus (see right)
A great small Crocus for naturalizing among snowdrops or even just in the lawn. It has lovely lavender-coloured flowers with cheery orange stamens in the center. Also comes in a dark purple form with the same stamens.
Eranthis hyemalis
The winter aconite. This amazing golden yellow flowered plants with a fun green ruff under the petals. When the sun shines the flowers open and are most cheery in the winter days. Great for naturalizing with snowdrops.
Cyclamen Coum
A most wonderful bulb flowering from early December right the way through to March. It has small kidney shaped leaves that are dark green or pewter (silvering of the leaves). The flowers are dark pink/red, pale pink or white. Super hardy for such a dainty plant and is a joyous plant to be with snowdrops.
Iris reticulata Kathrine hodgkins
This early flowering bulbous Iris produces large iris flowers from early as January right through February and are often found flowering with snowdrops. These bulbs produce flowers from white to rich blues and purple. Even some are yellow. A lovely variety and naturalizes quickly is Iris Reticulata Kathrine Hodgkins. But there are many others of this versatile little bulb.
Hellebores
Helleborus orientalis, known as the Lenten rose but it does tend to flower much earlier than Easter. I have a variety in my own garden that’s flowering at Christmas every year. These lovely herbaceous plants with red through to pink and white and some yellow and orange flowers. Some are single and some are double flowering. Once the old leaves are cut away the flowers on the stems are clearly seen. They make a great addition planted with snowdrops.
I often get asked what is a weed? well it’s really quite simple; –
A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place and can be any plant. For instance, a tree growing in your rose bed or a rose in your vegetable area.
Weeds are usually classified by something that grows from seed and arrives in your garden from the wind or from the garden centre / nursery growing or clinging to the pot, the plant is growing in or from your clothing and footwear or even from the birds and animals that visit your garden and perhaps annoyingly from your neighbour’s garden.
Another saying is “One year’s seed is seven years weed” this is easily explained as the seed from all plants are not designed to all germinate at once.
And are these weeds just wildflowers, then yes, they are. In some cases, allowing then to grow over your garden is a benefit in increasing our wild flora. However, I have noticed that’s these “wildflowers” are not as pretty as some and are often designated as undesirable.
In this garden blog we will look at some of the common weeds that we find in the garden.
We will classify the weeds to 3 main groups. Those being Annuals, Perennials and Pernicious weeds.
Annual weeds,
There is quite an array of annual weeds. Some which will germinate before winter and will grow over winter to start flowering in the spring, where as other that will germinate and grow and seed during the current year.
Such examples of these types of annuals are; – Fat hen grows tall with edible leaves, goose grass (cleavers) or even sticky weed. Green climbing growth with small green flowers. The seed has little barbs on them and are dispersed clinging to fur or garden gloves and clothing, red dead nettle can be regarded as quite pretty small (5-8”) round little plants with pink flowers, herb Robert of the geranium family, pink or white flowers, seed is catapulted, chickweed, small stary flowers and again explosive seed capsules. Overwinters as a green plant, etc
There is sub group to these annuals and they are ephemeral annuals. This means a plant that will grow, flower, seed and die many times within a season. Such examples of this type of weed are groundsel an evergreen weed that will survive the winter. The flower is small and yellow. The seed is dispersed in the wind, spurge belonging to the Euphorbia family. Contains a milky sap that’s sticky and can be an irritant to the skin in sunny weather. The seed is catapulted when the seed capsule is dry. And bittercress, again will survive the winter months as an evergreen. The flowers are small and white and the seed is catapulted once the capsules dry, Bittercress is very likely the worst horticultural weed.
The best treatment for removing annual weed from the garden is to hand weed or on a nice sunny day hoe the weeds off and leave them to die in the sun. You can place weed growth in your composting area providing the weed has no seeds on it. In the autumn and winter months thickly mulch your boarders and this will also prevent weed seeds from germinating – as a lot of seeds need light to germinate.
On hard surfaces like a drive or path you could try flame throwing the weeds off. However you need to be careful not to scorch other plants around the area, This method will only kill off the leaves and it will grow back.
The use of weed killers could be key for such areas but I am finding more and more people don’t wish to use weedkillers for various reasons.
Another group but not as many are the plants which are biennials. These are weeds that grow one year and then flower seed and disperse their seeds in the second year. Examples of these types of weeds would be, Jack in the hedge, an evergreen plant that grows up to a foot high with white flowers and belongs to the cabbage family. Ragwort, makes a large rosette and produces a tall flowers stem with many golden yellow daisy-like flowers. The seed id dispersed in the wind and willow herb, a very common weed, the seed arrives on the wind, has a small pink flower, elephant hawk moth caterpillars love this as their primary food source.
Annual Grasses
There are a few quite common grasses. The most common is probably annual meadow grass. A plant growing to 4/5 inches with flowers. Often in lawns but will grow just about anywhere. I don’t personally think it’s that annual! The next is a form of Bromus (sorry no common name) I was introduced to this as herringbone grass as this is what the seed heads resemble. But I’m sure it’s not called this. Grows from seed, flowers and disperses in the same season. Grows up to a foot and will grow in our gardens as well as any waste areas. The next grass is known by many names but the best one I like is angels fishing rod grass. A large grass (sedge – a type of rush) clump with tall arching flower heads in June. It seeds prolifically. Easy to remove when young and is an evergreen grass.
Perennial weeds,
This group just like the annuals is large, and as the reference perennial means like herbaceous perennials. These weeds either stay evergreen or completely die away in winter. If like me and you live in rurally then the types of perennial weeds that can appear in your garden can vary a lot, mostly brought in by the wind or my animals returning home after a day of roaming the countryside with seeds attach to their fur. They could also have spread in from neighbouring gardens or wild spaces like creeping buttercup.
I find that perennial weeds have two main growing types, firstly producing a tap root like with dandelion, produces long tap roots and large green rosette of leaves with many golden yellow flowers, seed produced in what we call a clock. Dock, even longer tap roots once established. Cinquefoil, also produces vegetatively a bit like a strawberry runner, and fibrous rooted like creeping buttercup, which like cinquefoil produces strawberry runners, avens, has a small yellow flower and hook like seeds that snag in to clothing and the fur on your animals.
Perennial weeds may also include nettle, speedwell, plantain, daisy and many others.
Like with annual weeds hand weeding and hoeing when young is a good eradicator for these and mulching. However, with experience I have noticed that these weeds can turn up and only notice them when there flowering inside your prized plants. If these weeds have turned up in your herbaceous plants, then you can remove these by splitting the perennial up and remove the perennial weeds. If you have perennial weed in shrubs then your either have to use weedkiller or continually pull them off. With perennial weeds that produce a tap root snapping them off is good at the time but they will grow back. Once perennial weeds are established in and around your plants it’s a case of constantly digging them out. Perennial weeds can be composted providing they have no seeds and perennial weeds that have tap roots need to disposed in your garden waste bin or taken to the local council recycling centre. As they will re grow in your composting bin.
Pernicious weeds
Pernicious weeds are also perennials and primarily spread from underground roots. However, they are flowering plants and will grow from seed also. Once these weeds are in your garden or were already in your garden, they can be very difficult to get rid of, some nigh on impossible and it’s a case of having to manage them.
Pernicious weeds include Bindweed, couch grass, enchanters’ nightshade, ground elder, mares’ tail and a few others
To note, Bindweed is a Victorian escaped introduction. Bindweed makes a pencil thick white root and is easily identified in the soil. I have found with experience that the roots can go down at least a foot in most soils. It also produces a white funnel shaped flower and will quite happily grow from seed too. Couch grass, quite a shallow rooted plant. It spreads primarily on an adapted creeping stem and enchanter’s nightshade, mostly a woodland plant, has thin white brittle roots and seeds that are barbed and clings to clothing and fur. Ground elder was introduced by the romans as a vegetable and is a naturalized plant as opposed to a native plant. (eat roots and leaves) spreads by seed but primarily on creeping that fill the soil only a few inches down in a mat of roots. I once spent a whole winter digging this out of someone’s garden. Only to find they went off to a plant fair and very proudly brought back three pots of the variegated version of ground elder!
If you have these weeds in your garden then they are very difficult to manage. Constant digging out or pulling off as soon as they are seen growing and disposing the roots and green parts in the bin or in to council recycling centre.
Remember these weeds will re grow from the tiniest piece of root you leave in the soil.
If you are unlucky enough to have mares’ tail in your garden then you’re fighting a losing battle. Remove it every time you see the green ferny leaf structures and flowers in autumn or spring. The roots of this ancient plant can go down 6 plus meters into the soil. Again, put this plant in the bin or to the recycling centre.
For many years and up to the present I have worked with many people and their gardens over the years. In the late winter early spring I hear “ooh look the japonica is flowering” I often use to look around and just wonder what they were talking about. In this case and most commonly my clients are talking about Chaenomeles. Chaenomeles japonica. The Japonica basically means that it comes from Japan. It can also be known as Japanese quince, flowering quince or even the Maule’s quince.
Chaenomeles, is a medium size deciduous shrub, having a height of around 3-4 feet and a spread of 5-7 feet. They are also a suckering shrub. They producing fairly nondescript green leaves that turn yellow in autumn before falling. It also produces rather significate thorns within the shrub so, be aware of this when pruning. Chaenomeles will grow in any
aspect of the garden and in full sun to light shade. These shrubs flower predominantly in the late winter early spring period. The flowers depending on variety can be red, white, orange, pink and lemony colours. Also depending on variety, the flowers and either single or semi double. These shrubs are a good early source of nectar for early pollinators on sunny day. In the autumn as the leaves fall on some varieties small the large apple shaped yellow fruits appear. From these fruits that are highly fragrant you can make a type of Japanese quince jelly. I have made it as it was described and lemony. I found no such thing. It did make a nice well-set jelly but, the taste was not good. These shrubs can be trained on a wall or clipped as bushes in the garden.
Prune these shrubs immediately after flowering and this will encourage new growth and flowers to form for the following years display. In older plants prune out 20% of the older growth to the base to encourage new younger growth. New flowers form from spur growth much like an apple or pear etc. If you have wall trained your bush then tie in new growth and remove the older growth where you have tied in the new.
Here are some notable commonly grown varieties;
Crimson and Gold – rich deep red flowers with lovely gold anthers.
Speciosa Giesha Girl – A semi double in salmon.
Jet Jrial – beautiful clear white flowers.
Speciosa Moelooserii – a lovely free flowering single pink and white coloured flowers.
Superba Pink Lady – nice shade of pink.
Superba Orange Beauty – single rich orange flowers
After the long winter gloom, the sun becomes stronger and we start to feel the warmth on our skin. At the road entrances to villages, towns, cities and in our municipal parks sunshine yellow flowers marks the end of winter and lifts our spirits in March as the Daffodils start to bloom.
March is predominantly when our large Daffodils start flowering, their large golden heads following the sun as it tracks across the sky from dawn till dusk. Many are yellow bit quite a lot are bicolored so that they are yellows, whites and oranges. In single, semi and double flowers. The double and multiheaded Daffodils usually flower later and are often scented.
These hardy bulbous perennials multiply reasonably quickly and make them ideal for naturalizing. Daffodils are also native to the UK. Narcissus Pseudonarcissus (see right) can be purchased for naturalizing in our gardens. If you would like to see native daffodils flowering in the wild then near where I live is a place called Edford Woods and Meadows near Holcombe where they can be viewed.
People ask what the difference is between Daffodils and Narcissus. It’s truly easy Daffodil is the common name in this country for Narcissus, which is the Latin name.
These bulbous plants are bought in the autumn and planted at least 3 inches down with the smaller bulbs and as much as 10 inches down in the soil with larger bulbs. As a rule of thumb after the first 3 inches plant daffodil bulbs 2x the height of the bulb. Plant between October and November when the ground is not frozen. Flowering pots of daffodils can be bought in the spring. Allow these after flowering to die down in the pot and them plant out in the garden. When planting Daffodils place them in a full or part sun position.
Plant Daffodils up to 3 inches apart after digging a hole large enough to take the bulbs you have bought. Sprinkle some potash in the base of the hole and then place your bulbs on top and fill the hole in. if you are unsure where to plant your bulbs in the garden, then
Once you Daffodils have flowered, remove any seed pods and allow the foliage to die down for at least 6 weeks. You can also apply a general fertilizer (growmore) or a high potassium based liquid feed like tomato food to help boost the bulbs for next year.
The number of Daffodils that are available on the market is quite mindboggling. Daffodils are split into 15 different sections and it’s for you to choose the varieties that you wish for your garden. They can start flowering in early February with varieties like February gold. Then move in to March with a whole array like Carlton (yellow) Ice follies (white and lemon) King Alfred (yellow) Fortune (yellow and orange) Jet fire (yellow and orange) Dutch Master and as we creep into April then the doubles start flowering like Tahiti (yellow and orange) White lion (white and lemon) Winston Churchill (cream and lemon) Cheerfulness (primrose).
From a preference point of view, I do like yellow Daffodils but I prefer the bi-colour, semi, double and multiheaded Daffodils and for the only reason is that I think you are getting more for the money you spent out to start with.
If you find like me you can’t wait for Daffodils to flower then you could always try growing some Paperwhites that flower for Christmas, or buying bunches of daffodils from the shops that come from the Isles of Scilly and then from Cornwall.
When plant hunters of the 18th century ventured into the foot hills of the Himalayas, in spring the wonder of seeing Magnolia’s flowering must have been breath taking and full of wonder. Now as it was then these majestic naked flowers on ancient trees flowering in the foot hills of the Himalayas.
Magnolias are a fossil plant; they have existed on this planet more than 90 million years and is one of the earliest flowering plants to evolve. As these plants appeared before pollinating insects such as bees its thought that they were pollinated by beetles. Magnolias can be found from north to south America but are mainly in central Asia (China, Japan, Sikkim, Nepal). There are in excess of 300 species and the hybrids made from these are countless.
Magnolia Stellata
Most Magnolias are deciduous plants but like many large groups of plants some are evergreen also. Probably the best known one that’s evergreen here in the UK is Magnolia Grandiflora. Most Magnolias are spring flowering and the leaves appear after the flowers. As Magnolias tend to mostly flower early in the year it makes the flowers prone to frosts and when this unfortunately happens makes the flowers go brown. However, some Like Magnolia Sieboldii flower in the early summer, with beautiful large white pendulous flowers. Also, all the evergreen varieties also flower in the summer months. Magnolia Grandiflora has large dinner plate sized cream flowers that and also scented. If the Magnolia sets seeds, they noticed in the autumn and occur in cone like structures with orange seeds within.
Magnolias like slightly acidic to neutral soils and prefer a sheltered full sun to light shade to grow in. Although most are medium sized shrubs/small trees, all can be pruned to keep their size. Theres a house in Wells who has them pleached, round the front of their garden or they can also be trained up a wall.
Magnolias are generally trouble free. If you need to prune then prune after flowering. Dead twigs and branches can be easily identified when the plant is in full leaf and remove dead at this point. If for some reason you need to cut them down or remove limbs from large Magnolias, then do this after flowering also. As if such a thing takes place, then the limbs or trunk will regrow back.
These days practically any Magnolias are available according on price you wish to pay for them. The most common found in our garden centers and nurseries are Magnolia Grandiflora, Magnolia Liliiflora, Magnolia Soulangeana and Magnolia Stellata. Also, the many hybrids from these.
I am often asked why Magnolia Soulangeana seems to be in everyone’s garden. Well, the easiest answer to this is that it was the first Magnolia that was available in garden centers to the population in the 70’s. Hence now you can go some places where every house in the street has the same Magnolia in their front gardens of the same age.
Just as a foot note, Magnolias mostly flower end of March in to April and Ioften think of them as April flowering. However, this year (2024) our winter has been remarkably mild and had caused alot of flowering trees and shrubs to flower much earlier than normal.
Spring is an amazing time of year; all our native plants start to wake up and grow pushing the food made from the previous year into new growth. This new growth full of nutrients. If you’re into foraging for free food the spring is the best time of year to do it as a lot of our native plants contain the “pick me up” nutrients that our bodies need.
Remember if you are foraging for plants only pick what is abundant. Never dig up plants. You also need to ask the landowner for permission to pick plants on their property. If you don’t already have such plants in your garden already. Please do be aware that you pick what you know the plant to be. If you are unsure then it’s best not to pick and make yourself ill.
Here are a few native plants that might be of interest and is easily identified:
Watercress
An evergreen plant growing abundantly in small shallow streams. Watercress needs clear water streams that are unpolluted. Watercress has a bitter peppery strong flavour and dark green and crisp. It has significant source of iron, calcium and a high source of vitamins C and K. With very little effort you can add the stems and leaves to salads or make a wholesome soup that’s the most amazing green colour.
Watercress Soup
Nettle
Another easily identifiable native plant and can be found in most hedgerows or your garden. Pick the stems and leaves when just 3-4 inches high and use gloves. Wash well and cook till soft and liquidize the make soup from this or east like you would spinach. The cooking process destroys the sting! Nettles are a good source of calcium, iron and potassium along with vitamins A, C and K. Consuming nettles boosts our immune system.
Watercress and nettles are classed as a superfood.
Ground Elder
Strictly not a native plant but was brought in by the Romans. All parts of this plant can be used, roots, leaves, seeds. In the spring the leaves can be picked and used in salads or as leafy greens with your dinner. Ground elder tastes of lemon, parsley and celery. Also, an excellent source of vitamin C and is best in spring. If you have this in the garden you could cut the leaves down regularly and get a source of vegetable regularly.
Lambs Lettuce
This is an extremely common plant. It is an annual and can be found anytime from November to May before it flowers. Use it just like you would lettuce. Very low in any calories and useful in a low-calorie diet. Its free food! Use in salads. I have been told you can cook it but I have not done that so I can’t comment.
Wild Garlic or maybe Ramsons
In some areas this bulbous plant is rampant. In the area I live in there is quite literally loads of it and its very invasive and quite a curse if you have it in your garden. Like most woodland plant it has totally died away by the time the canopy of the wood is in full leaf.
Every part of this plant is edible and all tastes of garlic. Most commonly used are the leaves and seeds. The leaves can be used to make pesto or soups or even putting in salads. The smell from wild garlic is very pungent and can be used as insect repellant.
Wild garlic has vitamins A and C also calcium, iron, phosphor and copper.
Please do remember that if you are in anyway unsure of what to forage for then please don’t. Always seek advice and clear identification of plant being foraged. Stay safe.
