Happy New Year 2023

Happy New Year everybody!

Today I’m looking back at last years garden, before moving ahead with this years tasks!

First Flowers

These feel like the most special flowers of the year. After that bare dormant stage, they emerge like little miracles, through cold damp soil. What on earth possesses them to show their faces in January and February!

Snowdrops, Hellebores, Crocus and Pulmonaria.

I’ve had some gardening vouchers for Christmas and one plant that’s on my list is another hellebore.

Late Winter, early Spring, brings Daffodils

The Daffodils are probably the flower most associated with spring, and they are also pretty hardy, coming up when it’s still so cold. Even though some of them come up in winter, we can definitely kid ourselves that it’s spring now!

Tulips

Despite being impossible really to have a favourite flower, I always say tulips. I think it’s because they bring the first big splash of colour to the garden.

Last year I finally manged to empty the dolly tubs of tulips, and these are what I bought and replanted. I do hope they look as good as these catalogue pictures.

Spring, bursting with colour

The orange azalea yet again didn’t have many flowers on, but the few we got were striking. On the other hand the purple rhododendron was covered in flowers for weeks.

The Pieris didn’t seem to mind being dug up and moved, having plenty of new red growth. Whilst the hyacinth’s perfumed the air.

The star shaped magnolia ‘stellata’ had a good show, and the purple tulip shaped magnolia had the best display ever.

Spring in white simplicity

The white garden has the first flowers of the season with snowdrops and hellebore, but really looks fab in the spring. It’s packed with Digitalis, Campanulas, and giant Alliums, which multiply each year.

The Astrantia came up as a huge plant this year, and I found a baby plant next to it. Obviously it had seeded itself, which is unusual as I have so much mulch down.

I bought another Lupin as my last one had died, so fingers crossed. I don’t know why I struggle with lupins in all but one position in the garden.

In an effort to extend the season down in the white garden I planted some new plants down there last year, so we’ll see!

Early Summer

Pinks and purples of early summer from the Roses, Alliums, Geraniums, Poppies and Lupins. This is very large, very healthy, dark pink lupin, that thrives in the garden, whilst others disappear. Who knows!

The splash of orange came from Californian poppies that I grew from seed. They simply flowered for months!

Dahlias

Obviously I’ve mentioned a few times that this was my first year growing dahlias, and I’m hopeful that it’s not my last. The tubers are currently drying out in the greenhouse, but I was a bit worried about them with that severe frost. Yet again I have my fingers crossed.

Flower Power

It was a strange gardening year. The early flowers were fabulous, but then the heatwave struck and the mid summer plants stagnated. I only watered plants in the garden once I saw they had wilted.

This kept them alive and when that rain finally came – and frankly has not stopped since! They recovered, putting on an amazing late summer, autumn and winter display.

Everlasting Flowers

As the mild weather continued into November, it felt like the flowers were going to go on forever this year. Even into December there were quite a few flowers still going for it, but then!

Frost

The frost came earlier than usual and lasted much longer, it actually felt like winter at last. Not just winter but christmassy too, with picture postcard scenery all around. The hardy flowers suddenly frozen in time, even more beautiful with their frosty coating.

I’m afraid that as soon as it melted, that was the end of the flowers and it all started to die back. The end of of this years growing season, the garden had gone to sleep for a few short weeks before those brave little snowdrops pop up once more.

Stay safe & happy new year gardening.