Sunday 5 February 2012

Not very open days

Galanthus nivalis
 On Friday night/Saturday morning the temperature dropped to -11.5o C, the coldest this winter, and the snowdrops and everything else collapsed in little heaps on the ground so they were hardly visible.  The temperature rose quite quickly to freezing point, but no higher. The snowdrops perked up ever so slightly, but not enough to get them off the ground and so when the time came to open the gate, at 12.45, for the first open day of the season, there was really very little to be seen. The first snowflakes came down about noon, and it started snowing in earnest at about 2.30 pm. We had to close the main gate at 3 pm and the snow continued to accumulate until well into the evening. Today it has remained above freezing and the snow is clearing, drippily, with plants appearing bit by bit above it, but we were not able to open the garden. All should be well for following weekends, however, and the display of snowdrops as good as ever.

Helleborus Ashwood Yellow group

Erica carnea 'Myretoun Ruby'

Crocus atticus (sieberi) 'Firefly'

Yucca 'Color Guard'

and a nicely palindromic stat when I logged-on this morning...

4 comments:

  1. I am hoping that over the next few weeks the weather will be fine and i intend to visit.

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  2. Oh I may have been your 105501 visitor was looking up your opening hours yesterday evening.

    Read your article in The Garden today - fascinated by Hepatica wondering if would grow in my garden

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  3. Mr. Grimshaw... I am looking for sources for Cyclamen purpurascens for my gardens in the mid-western United States. It is perhaps the only truly reliable cultivar for this area. Might you be aware of any sources, retail or wholesale that might ship to the United States or, better yet, be located in the US? Thank you, Larry Conrad

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  4. @PG: try Hepatica nobilis in light summer shade, where it won't get swamped by other plants or fallen leaves.

    @Larry: Have you tried the Cyclamen Society? I'm not sure what their policy is on sending seed to the US. The other option is the North American Rock Garden Society: members can surely advise you on where to obtain seed or plants.

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