February 2001

These are February Photographs

These are February Notes

I am looking out of the window as I start to type this months contribution to the world wide web, and the snow is falling fast. Temperature is just above freezing so it's melting as quickly as it falls, the forecast is however for more cold weather. This February as been more typical with temperatures struggling to get more than a few degrees above freezing. The result of this is that many plants are showing much less signs of new growth/flower, than at the same time last year. I suppose I asked for this by gloating last year about the extra month of good gardening weather. An upside of the colder conditions is that hopefully many of the pests will have been killed and so should cause less trouble early in the gardening year.

I noticed that in dropping my old January pages I also dropped the link to my Allium triquetrum page and seeing the ever spreading mass of green leaves reminded me to draw your attention to the warning once again. Click to see one of my worst weeds, and I actually paid for it.  Allium triquetrum

I planted the Acer palmatum Sango Kaku about six years ago as a tiny red twig, then waited until it was seven feet tall before deciding it had to be moved. In forming a header pond a couple of years ago I diverted the path and the new route passed too close to the Acer. So out came the spade, then I remembered that the pond filter feed pipe was somewhere amongst the roots of my soon to be moved tree. Away went the spade and out came the trowel. I don't know if you have ever tried to uproot a seven foot tall tree with a trowel? Well it isn't easy. I pulled and twisted the thing for just about one hour before it finally gave up, just as I was about to. Now I needed a hole to plant it in and I had the perfect spot just in front of my Mahonia where the red branches would show up against the evergreen foliage. Out came the spade again. Of course that was the spot where I buried one of our dear departed chickens a couple of weeks earlier. So away went the spade and it was back to the trowel.  I hope you enjoy the photograph of the tree in it's new location. If not you know what you can do. :-)

Iris unguicularis back by popular demand and I suppose an Iris that can put on such a show in this part of the world in winter is worth including again. I think it is also worth repeating that to do well it needs a dry sunny spot in the poorest soil you can find.

My variegated Bamboo has stood up well to the winter, the snow does sometimes flatten it, but it always comes back upright with no help from me. This one is a low grower reaching about  about two feet (60cm) high and is a moderate spreader. Pleioblatus variegatus is it's latest proper name.

Heleborus foetidus is a reliable early flowerer for me, only living three or four years, but self seeding around so there are always replacements coming along. When you are trying to attain a natural look to your beds self seeders are a real boon, nothing man does can improve on nature so leave the self setters where they germinate if at all possible.

Thought it was time to bring on the Guinea Pigs again. These are two little boys about ten weeks old. Dad is a long hair, mum is a short hair, these are intermediate between the two, and are very soft and cuddly.

These are February Photographs

These are February Notes