Happy New Year

Eranthis hyemalis - a double seedling from 'Lightning'

The mild weather has continued and plants are continuining to develop apace. Several more snowdrops can be added to the Christmas list and both Crocus atticus (sieberi) 'Firefly' and 'Bowles' White' are spangling the lawn. The earliest winter aconites are also out, the reliably early 'Zitronenfalter' and 'Lightning', plus some double-flowered seedlings from the latter, while many hellebores are also opening early flowers.

As well as being mild, December was by far the wettest month of a generally dry year, with 124 mm of rainfall recorded here. It brought the rainfall total for 2011 to 674.4 mm, surprisingly higher than in 2010, but still very low.

2006 (Jul-Dec) 547.2 mm

2007 1024.7 mm

2008 1079.0 mm

2009 774.7 mm

2010 630.0 mm

2011 674.4 mm

Mean rainfall for the past five full years is 836.6 mm (32.9 inches).



Plant of the Year 2011



White Papaver somniferum

I grow thousands of different plants in this garden, so choosing one as plant of the year is quite invidious. However, looking back through the year's images there was one clear winner - the pure white Papaver somniferum. For impact and beauty it was outstanding, with its big white blooms floating above the new growth in the new border - elegant and refined yet absolutely simple. The seed came from Sibylle Kreutzberger, who told me the story of its origin earlier this year. When she and Pam Schwerdt were at Sissinghurst they wanted a white poppy for the White Garden, but could not locate any through the normal horticultural sources. They had seen pictures of fields of white poppies in Afghanistan, so knew they existed, but how to get seed? Eventually they obtained seed from the local baker, who would otherwise have sprinkled bread with it, and from it grew perfect white poppies, of which these are direct descendants.

Reminiscences of 2011: the cottage garden

Jogoo and the crocus lawn

Viola, unnamed cultivar from Broughton, Peeblesshire

Ferula sp. from Turkey: an introduction made by Jim Archibald, perhaps the most interesting 'new' plant to flower in the garden this year.

Geranium 'Nimbus'

Geranium 'Nimbus', Euphorbia 'Excalibur' and Buphthalmum 'Dora'

Allium sphaerocephalum,  Hyssopus officinalis, Sedum 'Red Cauli'

Begonia 'Ember Glow' with Solenostemon latifolius, Oxalis, etc, in pots by the door.

 

Up the garden path, October

Philip, the free-living Lady Amherst's Pheasant

Reminiscences of 2011: Colesbourne Park

Primula rosea by the lake

Corydalis temulifolia 'Chocolate Stars' and Milium effusum 'Aureum'

Hosta 'Komodo Dragon'

Paeonia 'Duchess of Marlborough

Teasels (Dipsacus fullonum) in the herbaceous border

Verbascum blattaria

Cyclamen hederifolium

Haemanthus coccineus

Garden people 2011

Galanthophile: Tomoko Miyashita and Buzz (Colesbourne Park, February).

Dendrologist: Jan De Langhe (Chevithorne Barton, June)



President and Chairman: Elizabeth Banks and Raymond Evison (Savill Garden, July)



Garden designer: Guy Jones (Colesbourne Park, January)

Photographer: Andrew Lawson. (Colesbourne Park, February)



Commemorated: Celia  Sawyer with Galanthus 'Celia Sawyer' (RHS Show, February)



Plantsman: Eric Hsu (Pennsylvania)

Blogger: Matt Mattus (Massachusetts)

Intern: Josh with the poison ivy tattoo (JC Raulston Arboretum)

Merry Christmas

Cornus alba 'Sibirica', Abies cephalonica, Taiwania cryptomerioides, Thuja plicata 'Semperaurescens', Cotoneaster 'Cornubia', Quercus rysophylla 'Maya'

For the first time since starting this diary, we have an old-fashioned mild and green British Christmas - thank goodness! The mild weather - it has been up to 12^o on several days this week - has brought on a lot of flowers prematurely and there is quite a diversity to be seen. These have been flowering in the open garden at Colesbourne during the past week:

Galanthus plicatus ‘Three Ships’,‘Colossus’
G. elwesii var. elwesii
G. elwesii var. monostictus: numerous clones, of which ‘Mrs Macnamara’ and ‘J. Haydn’ are most conspicuous.
‘Galatea’
‘Faringdon Double’
‘Rosie’

Muscari armeniacum cv, M. aucheri ‘Christmas Beauty’
Cyclamen coum, C. pseudibericum
Helleborus argutifolius, H. foetidus, H. x hybridus
Prunus mume ‘Beni-chidori’
Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis Rosea’
Lonicera ‘Winter Beauty’
Viburnum farreri and x bodnantense – all clones, V. tinus
Daphne mezereum ‘Album’
Mahonia japonica
Hedera helix
Vinca minor
Antirrhinum majus
Scabiosa ochroleuca
Digitalis purpurea
Achillea 'Terracotta', A. filipendulina
Primula vulgaris, P. vulgaris subsp. sibthorpii, 'Gigha White'


May your festivities also be fun and floriferous!

Galanthus plicatus 'Colossus'

A tree at Christmas

Ginkgo biloba in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, 23 December 2011 (img. B.J. Ward).