In the Garden this Month The Garden in February February has a sting in its tail with bitter winds and overnight frosts, after a relatively mild, damp start.
Light levels are much higher, though, and the bright sunshine at least gives the illusion of warmth.
The mild weather has brought out the daffodils in the more sheltered parts of the garden and elsewhere there are flowers on the hellebores, pulmonarias and bergenias. Elsewhere, anemone blanda and just a few crocuses are emerging and there are lots of primroses. Fat little buds have appeared on the clematis montana growing against the cottage and, all in all, it looks as though spring is here. The earliest of the spring flowers, cyclamen coum, makes a bright splash of pink beneath the two larches, while the many snowdrops by the garden gate lift the heart in anticipation of new life all over the garden. Wild primulas here and there in the beds offer a similarly encouraging show.