Work for the week

WINTER: It was warm enough one afternoon last week for a stroll around the garden, and in one of my favourite stopping places I watched a cloud of midges, out of their winter sleep, dancing in the still, sunlit air.

On a west-facing ivy-clad wall, large pregnant blue-bottles were sunning themselves on the variegated leaves, having supped on the dark juicy berries. Is this where these dipterous creatures overwinter? It makes me wonder.

The small, round, unfamiliar sun, flat as a sovereign thrown on a grey silk tablecloth, shone from a denim-blue sky and in a moment of relaxation I could have sworn it was April. Nearby, a shoot of fuchsia, a scrap of campanula and a late rose bloomed.

Things are still growing, while underground the activity is reaching hectic proportions. Winter is indeed a contemplative season full of mystery and silent growth, but that dramatic (if fleeting) change from the bleakness of the ground and the emptiness of the trees to one of great expectations raised my hopes and inner spirits.

Like all gardeners, I tire of tasting the endless grey skies and barren soil. However, the equinox has now passed and I rejoice in the knowledge that light and warmth will soon be filling more and more of each passing day. My enthusiasm rekindled, I moved inside.

CAMELLIAS: The most joyous flowering of the next few months will be from camellias, and already the blush pink and shell white blooms of a pot-grown Sasanqua ‘Lucinda’ are giving a welcome mid-winter lift. To think that two years ago this was almost ‘thrown at me’ at a well-known garden centre (because it was such a slow seller) beggars belief. In another few days the very lovely single red Sasanqua Camellia ‘Yuletide’ will be in full bloom, also adding to the general post-Christmas garden scene.

If these are not available locally or indeed within your county do remember that these Sasanqua forms can be ordered from Britain through ‘The Plant Finder’. Just Google ‘plant finder’ into your computer and follow the drop- down menu, The plants will be sent to your home via parcel post. There are no restrictions (or extra payments to be made) on imported plants ordered from member states of the EU. The only drawback to all this is the rather high exchange rate for sterling.

STAKES AND SUPPORTS: Remove all temporary plant supports such as those used for runner beans and sweet pea. This is the last call for storing these from damaging weather. Clean them before storing somewhere dry. Link Stakes, those green, plastic-coated plant supports, need no attention apart from a quick rub down to remove dirt. Bamboo canes can be dipped in preservative and brought under cover.

CONIFERS: A prolonged spell of biting east winds can desiccate the foliage of all plants but in particular young conifers, after which they die. Thousands die under such conditions every year. Normally, these winds arrive in late January and on into spring but it would be good husbandry, if not common sense, to protect newly-planted stock long before then. A screen of clear polythene, or better still a length of Mypex fixed to a ring of canes around each specimen, will prevent this kind of damage. The same principle can be used to protect new evergreen hedges. Mypex is sold at garden centres, where it is used extensively to shelter and protect young plants in open beds from drying winds and extreme cold. Let’s hope the exercise will prove pointless (it may, after all, continue to be a mild winter and spring) but don’t want to run the risk of squandering a season (or good plants) for the sake of a modicum of work.