February in the Garden - Brighton Garden Designer: Lilybud Gardens by Design

Welcome to the February edition of Fiveways Gardens.

How about that? December was really cold - almost like winter, you might say. How refreshing; the seasons behaving themselves. So, you know what happens this year? We get that long hot summer! Hoorah.

So what did all that pesky frost and day after day of minus zero temperatures do to our soft southern plants? Well generally nothing they're not adapted to handle. Because of our milder climate we've got more bullish in what we plant outside. For example, a few years ago I planted Sollya heterophylla, common name Australian Bluebell, a plant that the RHS have given the Award of garden merit. This is how Pure Plants, describe it: "An evergreen twining climber with fresh green leaves and pretty bell-shaped blue flowers followed by blue berries. June-July flowering. 3m tall. Needs a well protected site against a warm wall sheltered from cold winds, in a well drained soil". Technically classified as a conservatory plant in the UK, it's now survived its 3rd winter, including this one, I'm happy to say. It looks just fine, but, it is planted in the most sheltered and sunny part of my garden. On the other hand, the Arum Lillies or Zantedeschia aethiopicas are looking extremely sorry for themselves. In the rest of the country they act just like herbaceous perennials in dying right back and losing their leaves over winter. They are often evergreen here though. So, if you have them and they look awful and you can't wait til spring to cut off the limp, soggy looking leaves, do it now. The roots will almost certainly be fine and the new shoots will be as strong as ever come the spring. Abutilons also look terrible and will need cutting back. Given that pruning, or cutting off frost damaged growth causes plants to put on new growth, if you can hold off til spring, do so. If they are clearly visible from the house though, then get your snips out. Just cut back to 3 or 4 buds above where you would normally prune back to. In this way, should we get another spell of seriously cold and frosty weather, you've still got more plant material to cut back to.

If your garden is looking bleak and has been for the past few months, it's worth thinking about sorting this out for next year. A carefully chosen plant grown for winter interest, such as a Sarcococca, Daphne or Viburnum and some bulbs is all that it takes. Another fab plant to consider but needs a large container of ericaceous soil (available anywhere that sells compost) is Witch hazel, or Hamamelis. Available in shades of red, orange and yellow they look particularly good grown against a dark green hedge, but in truth, are star performers on any sunny patio. Many varieties have wonderful scent too, a real bonus on a warm day, when you might be outside clutching a hot mug of coffee musing on what to do.

Late summer and autumn flowering Clematis can be cut back to about a foot or 30 cm above the ground. If this sounds a bit drastic, cut less off, but, beware the scrappy, woody, bare stems that result from not hard pruning this sort of climber.

Best wishes

Lisa

For an initial consultation call Lisa on 01273 500407 or 07957 751218 or email her at info@lilybud.co.uk