Dull Day in Feb

It’s almost always a dull day in Feb, but unlike many “northern” places, and unlike last year, this dull Monday is mild, as has been the whole winter season.

Hence, spring-ish garden pics–same plants I show you most years!:

You can imagine how adaptable Sarcococca is: it’s growing in never-amended soil, between concrete and asphalt, in a bed that is 12″ wide and about 9′ long.

There’s really nothing like seeing big red or white or creamy green clumps of hellebores sprouting up through mounds of wood chip mulch!

Now here’s a shrub/small tree that no one should be without–Hamamelis–Witch hazel.

‘Diane’ isn’t very fragrant, but she makes up for that lack with outstanding colour. It would be even better if the background weren’t so dull. If you have snow on the ground, you’d appreciate those little spidery flowers much more. Two alternatives both for a climate like mine, and for fragrance, are ‘Arnold’s Promise’ and ‘Pallida’. Both have light-coloured (creamy white to yellow) flowers, so they show up better against the brown ground, and they are wonderfully fragrant. When I bought ‘Diane’ it was billed as ‘fragrant’, but it’s not at all. Maybe I should splurge and find room for ‘Pallida’.

 

 

 

 

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