Grasses for winter and spring

We usually associate grasses with late summer borders and the prairie style of gardening so popular at the moment – in this situation big is most definitely best .

Some of the smaller varieties, however, display their best leaf colour in winter, truly coming into their own at this time of year. They are particularly useful in a shady spot or wooded area of the garden for lighting up a dark corner. .

Luzula .sylvatica “Aurea” has zingy yellow foliage in winter and I grow it alongside magenta Cyclamen Coum    - pink and yellow may not normally work but on a dreary February it certainly raises my spirits!  For a more traditional combination try it with clumps of Iris. reticulata “George” which has  rich purple flowers.

Acorus. gramineus  (Dwarf sweet flag) is a small ,grass like perennial  with slender, pointed evergreen leaves, it prefers a slighter damp soil  but is tolerant of a wide variety of situations.

A bright display of Acorus.g.“Ogon” outside the nursery potting shed, gave us all a boost during the last working days before Christmas. In the garden it contrasts well with deep red oriental hellebores or later with blue pulmonaria . The creamy white striped variety “Variegatus” would work well with clumps of snowdrops.   

 

These grasses look better in smaller clumps, repeated through the border, so divide regularly. By late spring their bright foliage will fade and become greener allowing them to step back out of the spotlight for another season..

Happy gardening in 2013 

The snowdrop for the gardener not the Galanthophile

The snowdrop for the gardener not the Galanthophile

Whether you know them as Snowdrops or Galanthus their beauty is no less. Would we cherish these, the gentlest of plants so much so if they were available all year? Or is their narrow window of flower the true attraction? Last year the highest price bid for a single bulb was £725! This could be viewed as true passion or sheer lunacy, either way you do not need to stretch to these lengths to genuinely appreciate these exquisite plants.
Amongst the hundreds of cultivars circling Galanthus collectors there are some beastly looking doubles, flirtatious hybrids where the petals flick outwards like a 1950’s ladies dress; and still my favourite the delicate single snowdrop, the green markings glancing up at you through its petals like a nervous lopped ear rabbit.

However for the majority of us, the modest gardener, we require the snowdrop to be part of our passion, our gardens, integrated in with other plants. We long for the snowdrop to appear to encourage us to venture into our gardens in the wet, in the icy winds and enjoy all the early flowering plants in January.

We need strong varieties that will bulk up quickly over the season flower profusely and not cost us a small fortune and to be a delightful view from the kitchen window as we ponder thoughtfully over our gardens from a distance.

Galanthus nivalis – the familiar but still enchanting

 

Galanthus nivalis Flore Pleno (Double)

 

 

Galanthus nivalis Flore Pleno – the common, but none the worse for that, double form.

 

Galanthus - the Latin name meaning ‘milk flower’. They are surprisingly not native to Britain but are believed to have introduced from Europe by monks in the medieval period. Galanthus only gained there English name of ‘Snowdrop’ in the seventeenth century probably given due to the common species ‘nivalis’ meaning ‘snow like’.

Snowdrops cleverly close their flowers during the cool nights to encapsulate the daytime warmth, the temperature inside the bell is sometimes as much as two degrees higher than the night air.

Snowdrops like a moisture retentive soil and are best grown in part shade.