A Time for reflection

This period between Christmas and the New Year is always an odd one. We seem in a state of limbo, never sure what to do. After the current year we are all desperate for a new start and yet, for gardeners, it is difficult to know quite what to do.

I am desperate to catch up on a lot of things I wanted to do in autumn but the ground is just too wet and I will do more harm than good by squidging about on the borders. And with Storm Bella spoiling things, and with a few days of disruption to come, it is better to stay indoors.

There are a few things to enjoy in the garden though. The first snowdrops are showing themselves, though the daffodils seem to be in a race to beat them, and a few flowers remain on the roses.

It is funny how, over the years, our view of certain plants can change. I never really appreciated Viburnum tinus like I should have, in the past. The dark green foliage was too sombre and, unlike so many viburnums, the flowers were not deliciously fragrant. But this morning, those white flowers and deep pink buds were a joyous sight and I will look with kinder regard at this toughest of shrubs – and I will plant a few more.

The same is true of Garrya (above), that curious evergreen shrub with grey catkins in winter. I remember seeing it several times in the wild, in California and Oregon where it grows right down on the beach, battered by wind and salt spray of the Pacific. It seems odd, therefore, that we plant it on north-facing walls. I did not plant mine till this summer, always meaning to but then tempted by something more colourful or rarer. But finally I had enough discipline to part with money for my Garrya and today the catkins are fully extended and whipping around in the wind. Perhaps tomorrow will be calmer. Always buy the cultivar ‘James Roof’ which has the longest catkins of all.

I am still waiting for my witch hazel (hamamelis) to open but there are a few flowers on my small Viburnum ‘Dawn’ and my Lonicera ‘Winter Beauty’, with small, cream but intensely perfumed flowers has been blooming for many weeks.

So look around your garden and check that you have a few staple, evergreen and winter-flowering shrubs to bring colour and delight to your winter garden.

This is the time to think about next year too. If you are more organised than me you may have kept a notebook of what changes you need to make. My garden is new and there is enough digging of new beds and paving to lay to keep me busy for most of spring but it is useful to look at photos of the garden over the past year and look at ways to improve it. Now is the time to move any shrubs, if it is necessary, and spring is the time to move most herbaceous plants.

Do you intend to grow more veg next year? So perhaps you want to find room to build a raised bed or two?

One of my favourite winter jobs is sorting through my seeds, putting them in alphabetical order and making a list of when I intend to sow them. Of course, you may want to add a list of what you need to buy. Seed sowing is always exciting and washing seed trays and cleaning labels, while not my favourite job, has a whiff of anticipation of spring.

Whatever you do this week, stay safe and I wish you all the best for a better year ahead and a wonderful year in the garden.

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