The February garden is dominated by the usual seasonal stalwarts, the snowdrops, the witch hazels and, now gradually coming on board, the hellebores. There are too many of each to list the top ten but above are a selection of hellebores, still not yet at their best (‘Double Lime’, ‘White Spotted Lady’ and ‘Harvington Double White’) and below is ‘Ginns Imperati’, one of the many snowdrops bobbing about in the snowdrop border:
The native snowdrops in the woodland edge border enjoyed this morning’s sunshine and blue skies and were encouraged to spread their wings a little, the milder day also favouring a single bloom of Clematis cirrhosa ‘Jingle Bells’ (sadly out of focus!):
My newest witch hazel, ‘Strawberries and Cream’, is probably at its best now, as the shreds unfurl from their restrained huddles and show more of their true colour, a very definite strawberry red centre blending into Channel Island creamy yellow:
Some of the other witch hazels are over now, but the view towards the apple trees, between the stream and the shrub border, shows ‘Spanish Spider’, ‘Diane’, ‘Ruby Glow’ and ‘Zuccariniana’ still in full flower, with rivulets of Crocus tommasinianus running through the shrub border and the streamside grass. Not surprisingly, the crocus were loving the sunshine too.
Joining the ranks of these seasonal stalwarts were numerous clumps of native primroses, in the woodland, under the apple trees and in random crevices as shown in last week’s Wordless Wednesday. Sadly they are rarely as pristine as these newly flowering clumps:
Solid and dependable, these blooms form the backbone of the late winter garden here, with the snowdrops and witch hazels flowering over a long period and providing colour to my rambles from December onwards. There is certainly never a dull moment in this UK Midlands blogger’s garden – and if you pop over to Chloris’ blog at The Blooming Garden you will undoubtedly find there are very few dull moments her February garden or those of other bloggers either. Thanks Chloris, for allowing us to share our top monthly blooms.
And thank you for sharing your February beauties Cathy. Lovely all of them. Have you noticed Ginn’s imperatii smells of almonds in a vase? It’s my favourite for picking. Your witch hazels look wonderful. Now didn’t I tell you that Strawberries and Cream is gorgeous? Worth every penny. And you have some gorgeous hellebores. Aren’t February blooms amazing?
I will go and have a sniff at GI tomorrow, or perhaps bring a couple in, as it’s not something I have noticed before so thanks for alerting me to it. The witch hazel season seems to be quite a long one here and particularly so this year. Its certainly lovely to have so many blooms between December and March and of course the hellebores are oly just begining here
Your garden looks beautiful Cathy. I love your hellebores. My hammerellis hasn’t flowered yet. I notice that yours is flowering.
My hamamelis flower over quite a long period, as 2 or 3 are over now but the others are still in their prime – what variety is yours?
Thanks Cathy. I’m not sure. I’ll check last year’s photos.
You are working towards a national collection of hammerellis Cathy.
Tee hee – not quite though…! And I haven’t space for any more… well, I don’t think so, anyway…!
Your February garden is making quite a show…so many lovely things to admire. Your new witch hazel is astounding, love it!
Now the crocus get their turn. Snowdrops are getting tiresome, especially for those of us who do not grow them. I am wondering how late the season for hazels will go. Ours finished a while ago.
So many lovely flowers make February a wonderful month. I hope all our flowers can cope with the cold weather that is on its way from Siberia!
You certainly have more blooms in February than are in my garden. Your new large Witch hazel is stupendous!
A wonderful display!
I always think of your garden when I see witch hazels even though I have never visited. Lots of gems you have
athy the carpet of Winter Bells is a wonder. The Hamamelis “Strawberries and cream” has a divine color. The helébores are beautiful. The crocus tommasinianis I love. The native primulas are really beautiful. It has many flowers in its beautiful garden. And a wonderful collection of Hamamelis. Greetings from Margarita.
Thanks Margarita – it really pays off having winter flowering plants (if you live somewhere where that is possible)
I have just started following your blog and I’m enjoying seeing your spring blooms beginning to emerge. We are coming towards the end of summer here (Australia) so our flowers are completely different, of course.
Thanks Jane, and welcome. It is always interesting to compare blooms from other parts of the world – we have a regular contributor from NZ to our Monday vases so we are used to seeing ‘opposite’ seasons!
I enjoyed your February blooms Cathy and have added ‘Harvington’s Double White’ to my hellebore wish list 🙂 Do your witch hazels have any companions growing up them in the summer? ‘Strawberries and Cream’ looks as if it is living up to its name.
When I checked the labels, the Double Lime is a Harvington’s too, which I had forgotten. No, no companions for the witch hazels – they are quite shapely as they are and I had not actually considered that option. Were you aware of them when you were here in June?
Lovely.
Love the witch hazel, Cathy! A lovely colour combination !
They are such an asset to the garden, Ali
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