I feel a bit guilty, I really talked the snow up in my last blog saying I was fed up with my winter flowering Viburnums still having foliage. The frosts has nicely denuded them but of course the frost has burnt the flowers as well.

Work at the nursery is slowing down as we approach the midwinter low. Most plants hate being tampered with at this time of year. However there are exceptions. We grow a lot of Hemerocallis and Iris sibirica in pots and they can be divided and repotted even in the dark days of December and January.

So turn on the heater in the potting shed and get cracking. Divide with a long bladed sharp knife into big chunks and repot. Remember if you are mean and divide into small chunks flowering may be delayed till 2012. And do remember to include some slow release fertiliser in your compost, it is so much easier than faffing about with liquid feeds.