Early flowering cherries

One of the joys of working at The Garden House is the range of plants on display.  Although we don't boast a definitive collection some of our flowering cherries bloom so early in the year and with such profusion that they produce a definite impact = even amongst visitors primarily attracted by the snowdrops.

Any of these are ideal if you want a small tree to add colour and interest as winter gives way to spring.  All are hardy, deciduous, and show some Autumn colour.

Starting with the red pink flowers of Prunus campanulat 'Felix Jury'...

...white flowered Prunus incisa 'Kojo-No-Mai'...

...and Prunus x incam 'Okame'...

..they all offer colour and interest at an often bleak time of the year,

Snowdrop of the Day - Week 6

Week 6 of The Garden House 'Snowdrop of the Day images, and these are the ones we featureded between the 16th and 22nd of February.

Galanthus 'Cowhouse Green'

Galanthus 'Joe Spotted'

Galanthus nivalis 'Bungee'

Galanthus nivalis 'Egret'

Galanthus nivalis 'Viridapice'

Galanthus plicatus 'Wendy's Gold'

Galanthus nivalis 'Blonde Inga'

Galanthus nivalis and G.plicatus varieties featured heavily this week.  This is their season and they continue the display we began featuring back on the 12th January.  Although there are still snowdrops to come the season is nearly over - but there will another 7 next Friday and possibly a few more after that.  Hope you've enjoyed them,

Narcissus cyclamineus

As gardeners we can't help being delighted by the bright yellow splashes of early narcissus colour in the open garden,  Among the earliest to show is Narcissus cyclamineus, from Northern Spain and Portugal, and now rare in the wild but popular in gardens worldwide.

The highly reflexed petals that sweep back from the yellow trumpet make it unmistakeable.  Hardy, it's well suited to loamy acid soils in sun to light shade but it's preferred environment is thin grassland and woodland edge habitats.  At The Garden House, where these photos were taken, it's naturalising on some of the grassy banks in the Acer glade and in the good drainage of the Bulb meadow.

Like snowdrops, it prefers to be planted 'in the green' and then left untouched to spread by seed rather than the production of offsets.  If it likes you - and the moist maritime climate of South West England certainly suits - it can be quite prolific.

Parent to many early flowering hybrids - 'Jack Snipe', 'Tete a Tete', 'Jetfire' and many others - the reflexed petals are certainly in evidence among its offspring although none have the full swept back appearence of this delightful little spring bulb.

Snowdrop of the day - Week 5

Our fifth week of The Garden House snowdrop festival 'Snowdrop of the Day' and here are the ones we've picked that were on display in the garden between February 9th to 15th:

Galanthus nivalis Sandersonii Group 'Scotzen'

Galanthus nivalis 'Warei'

Galanthus plicatus 'Seraph'

Galanthus 'Trymming'

Galanthus woronowii

Galanthus plicatus 'Elizabeth Harrison'

Galanthus x valentini notho subsp. subplicatus

A lot of the collection is limited to single or small numbers of bulbs, many harvested from other collections in danger of being lost due to the death of the owners.  We have a duty to preserve and put these on display so others might enjoy them and what better environment than the 10 acre edge of Dartmoor plot that is The Garden House.

Of course we do have our drifts of the more vigorous species and varieties and I took these photographs in Dartmoor rain and drizzle / mizzle on the 9th February.  Hope you enjoy the spectacle.

Sheets of Crocus

Specifically Crocus tommasinianus, the hardy, early flowering species from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Along with their snowdrop collections, this is one of the harbingers of spring at The Garden House, occupying swathes of ground in both the bulb meadow and acer glade and, with suitable encouragement from the garden team, in other areas within the garden

February sunshine brings them out in full glory, both in the sunnier Bulb Meadow....  

...and the shadier Acer Glade.

Despite recieving the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) the species can also be considered a bit of a weed due to it's ability to naturalise in the semi shaded, edge of woodland areas that mimic the wild habitat.  Beloved of early flying bumble bees, it acts as a nectar source for these and other early insects at a time when there is little else available.  Perhaps a little invasiveness is no bad thing.

You may not have the room to encourage such early sheets of colour but it's hardiness and ability to spread by both seed and corm multiplication deserves a place in even a small plot.  After all, it doesn't interfere with the summer's growth and adds a splash of colour when colour is most needed.

 Snowdrop of the day - Week 4

Our fourth week of The Garden House snowdrop festival 'Snowdrop of the Day' and here are the ones we've picked that were on display in the garden between February 2nd to 8th:

Galanthus 'S.Arnott'

Galanthus 'S.Arnott'

This occupies large swathes of the garden, having proven very suitable for mass displays.

Galanthus 'Fieldgate Primrose Legacy'

Galanthus ikariae

Galanthus 'Mr Taylor'

Galanthus nivalis 'Grundfroscht'

Galanthus 'Treasure Island'

Galanthus 'Wartburg No 4'

With at least a month of the festival to go and the mass of Galanthus nivalis cultivars still to flower and select from the next few weeks should be interesting.  Already the mass displays of 'S.Arnott' are building up to their peak.  If you get a chance to come along it's well worth while.  Details on The Garden House website.

Repotting my lilies

Lilium regale

I grow a small number of trumpet lilies in my own garden.  Becasue they need better drainage than my heavy soil can provide and to provide some protection against my rather rampant snails I grow them in large 35L shrub pots, top dressed with grit.  And now's the time for the annual repotting.

Really it's only a case of removing the grit top dressing, easing the root ball out of the pots and shaving some of the old compost from top, sides and base.  This is then replaced and the bulbs go back in the same pot.  If they get overcrowded I'll split the clumps but that's not needed this year.  The pots are then positioned at the back of borders, partially buried to allow roots to grow outward and reduce the watering needs.  It also provides stability once the lilies are in full growth.  Once the border foliage has grown up the pots are almost hidden and the lilies can display as though they were in the ground.  Feeding and additional watering is also easier.

I do have to watch out for lily beetle, Lilioceris lilii, a scourge - with the snails - of the lily foliage.  Fortunately they're easy to spot and pick off before they significantly damage the leaves or produce their excrement coated larvae.

Lily beetle on lily foliage

Of the lilies I grow Lilium regale is the first to flower in June.  Heavily scented, it perfumes the air for yards around.  This is followed by the equally well scented 'African Queen', 'Golden Splendour'and 'Pink Perfection'. which, with me, all flower in July.

Lilium 'African Queen'

Lilium 'Golden Splendour'

Lilium 'Pink Perfection'

There then follows a gap which I really must fill. Perhaps with one or two of the turkscap lilies which flower in August and September.  What I won't get are the up facing lilies.  I just don't find them attractive.  

Now, where's the nursery brochures - and I'd better get some more shrub tubs ordered.

 Snowdrop of the Day - Week 3

Following on from the previous two snowdrop posts here are the flowers featured during Week 3 of The Garden House 'Snowdrop of the Day' posts on Facebook and Instagram.  The season is certainly well under way, with more and more species and varieties on display in this lovely 10 acre, edge of Dartmoor, garden.

Galanthus elwesii 'Alwyn'

Galanthus elwesii 'Gilt Edge'

Galanthus 'Fieldgate Prelude'

Galanthus 'G75'

Galanthus plicatus 'Gilt Edge'

Galanthus 'Roulade'

Galanthus elwesii 'Kite'

The many Galanthus nivalis (common snowdrop) varieties are now emerging and showing flower buds and the first of these may well be in Week 4 of the festival post.