My Garden Journal 2022 – February

As promised at the end of my January visit to my garden journal we are back looking at how our refurbishment of our Shade Border has come on.

I began by writing “As January finished and February began, a few dry days afforded us the opportunity to finish the fencing and replant our shade-loving plants.”

On the next page I looked at the foliage of some of our indoor begonias, where I wrote, “I rarely feature indoor plants so for a change I decided to photograph the foliage of our begonia collection. There is such a wide range of shapes, sizes, texture, colours and patterns.”

In complete comparison on the page opposite there is no colour, I simply shared a simple pencil sketch of, “Delicate seed heads although gently collapsing, retain simple beauty.”

Below is my pencil sketch of these delicate seed heads, about which I noted,“Delicate seed heads, although gently collapsing, retain simple beauty.”

Over the page on the next double page spread I considered how we replanted the shade garden and how wildlife was responding to improved daylight quality and quantity.

I wrote, “We have finished replanting our ‘Shade Garden’ and it is ready to burst into life in spring.”

I added, “We have also incorporated sculptures into the plantings, sculptures we created from rusted whisky barrel hoops.”

On the opposite page I noted, “As the daylight hours slowly increase we become aware of a gradual improvement in the quality of light as we garden. Wildlife responds to these changes. Bird calls are replaced by bird songs and blue tits, robins and great tits are taking possession of nest boxes. Buzzards and red kite dominate the skies.“

The first two photos show our hedgehog gateway and a hedgehog hibernaculum.

The next page of my February journal entries was all about the effects of the low winter sun on dried seed head specimens I had lain out to sketch.

On the page opposite I shared photographs of a selection of the bark of a few of our many tree. I wrote, “When we choose trees for our garden we consider not just their foliage and flowers, but also the beauty of their bark. Bark can add colour, texture, pattern and shelter for wildlife.”

The final pair of pages are all about early flowering bulbs and the garden jobs we tackled when weather allowed.

I wrote, “By the middle of the month early flowering spring bulbs add splashes of colour whatever the weather, although some open more fully only on sunny days.”

On the final page for February we return to see how we managed to carry on with garden tasks whenever the weather allowed, and I wrote, “Whatever wintery weather was thrown at us we continue with garden tasks.”

That is it for my February journal entries. When we return in March perhaps we will see a few signs of spring!