First of February in the garden

Blue_sky_after_snowfall_in_February_in_Scottish_garden — Blue sky day. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

It’s been a lovely start to the new month today. Very clear and crisp. After taking the image above this morning, after a full day of sunshine, by the time I got round to typing up my post, most of the snow had melted away.

There has been quite a lot of snow fall in January, and it’s been quite cold too. No sooner had the temperature risen again and things were beginning to feel a bit more spring-like, then down came another pouring of the white stuff yesterday.

Falling_snow_in_a_Scottish_garden_at_the_end_of_ January — Last day of January snowfall. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

The new season’s growth seems a little slower in showing this year. Most of the bulbs I have planted around the garden are only just beginning to poke through the soil, but the ones below, in an old wheelbarrow, are much more advanced. When I’m gardening I often accidentally dig up bulbs. I usually put them back in the same place, but last year I cleared an area which had become too densely populated, and ended up with loads to replant. The wheelbarrow and an old barrel seemed like suitable new homes. Hopefully I will end up with a colourful display from both in a few weeks time.

Old_wheelbarrow_planted_with_bulbs — My barrow of bulbs. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Looking back at my garden in February last year, I had a few snowdrops out in full bloom by this time. At the moment, the petals are firmly closed, but with a couple more days of sunshine, they should open up. In other more sheltered spots around the garden, the snowdrops still have quite a way to go before they flower.

Early_Febraury_snowdrops_in_bud — First of February snowdrops. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Another precious flower in the garden at this time of year is the winter-blooming white heather. It certainly looks very healthy. Believed to bring good luck, white heather brings the feeling of life and vibrancy to the garden long before the other colours of spring appear.

Bright_white_winter_heather — Lucky white winter heather. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

Another plant that is also looking very floral just now is a new Helleborus Orientalis I planted last year. It’s very pink and very pretty. The more established Hellebores in the garden are only in leaf with no sign of flower stems, so I guess that this one must be an early variety. It does look a wee bit lonely in the border, with just the one flower open, but there are lots of buds, so they may well be flowering when the others decide to make a show. See you next time 🙂

Beautiful_pink_Hellebore — Early Hellebore. Image: Kathryn Hawkins

2 thoughts on “First of February in the garden”

Blogging is a great way to remember seasons past, isn’t it? It is good to have snow or cold weather at this time of year, I think. In any event, much better than frost later on after the fruit trees have started blossoming – my fear every year, this one included. Snow looks pretty, but my children in New England hate shoveling!… Just for fun, let me share this story with you:
http://baetzler.de/humor/snow_shoveler.html

Your wheelbarrow is going to look beautiful in a few weeks, I’m sure. I am looking forward to more photos!

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My virtually free-from kitchen says:

February 2, 2018 at 9:27 am

Good morning Joëlle. Thank you for making me laugh with your snow shovelling story 🙂 Very amusing. Luckily for us when we have snow it doesn’t go on for weeks on end nor does it pile quite so high, but then I may have just tempted fate! The driveway here is quite steep so the only shovelling required is to dig trenches for the cars. Once they are at the bottom, that’s where they stay until the snow has melted. It’s another blue sky day here but more snow forecast for later. I will share the bulbs if and when they bloom Have a good weekend when it comes. KH 🙂

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