Month: February 2023

One of the delights of growing several species and cultivars of trees in our garden is being able to look at, observe and touch peeling bark that appears on several. Each different birch has different coloured peeled bark and some peel off more than others. Birches are the best bark peelers of all, but other trees do join in. Prunus serrula shows rich coloured ribbons of bark in a beautiful deep ginger colour.

First let’s look at some of our birches. The first batch of photos are of Betula albosinensis ‘Kanzu’. As the years go on the bark gets more and more musty purple. This birch has so many colours on the main trunk.

I then move on to another albosensis variety of birch called Betula albosinensis ‘Septentronalis’, which has much more orange-ginger peeling bark. It peels back from the main trunk and main branches and falls to the ground in sheets.

The deep ginger coloured bark of Prunus serrula is in complete contrast to the paler trunks of the betulas.

A small tree which we grow for its winter-flowering is Cornus mas, which produces bright yellow spidery flowers in winter. The flowers burst from the main trunk and branches and share with us its gentle scent. After a few years of pruning to do formative pruning we can now appreciate the grey rough peeling bark, a great place for insects to shelter and over-winter.

One of the youngest betulas in our garden is ‘Hergest’ which displays gingery coloured peeling bark and very obvious lenticels, marking the trunk. It will change colour as it grows.

White stemmed birches mostly Betula utilis jacqemontiii, are probably the most widely grown of all birches. We grow ours in a typical trio formation. These specimens are Betula utilis ‘Snow Queen’ with bright white bark which shows gentle salmon colouration beneath peeled bark.

Finally I will share with you the tree whose bark peels off in thin strips. In a few months it will give us the pleasure of seeing its white clumps of flowers. It is quite an unusual garden tree and is known as Heptocodium miconiodes.

Foliage has important roles to play all year round and in winter it really comes to the fore. There are a reduced number of flowers to distract us. It is the third week of January and I shall take a wander around the garden with camera in hand, looking for variegated foliage and glaucous/grey/silver coloured leaves.

Alongside the front door we have two large terracotta pots featuring foliage plants and they look really good just now.

First off I wandered around the front garden looking for variegated foliage. The first trio of photos shows from left, a euphorbia, a rhamnus and a euonymus.

Moving around the shaded side of the house we wander along the ‘Shade Border’ sometimes called the Fern Garden which leads through the ‘Seaside Garden’ where silver foliage dominates. These two small shrubs are Convolvulus cneorum and Brachyglottis ‘Silver Dormouse’, the first has glossy foliage which catches the light beautifully whereas the dormouse is soft to the touch almost like suede.

While on the fence behind these two, a brightly leaved ivy, Hedera colchica ‘Sulphur Heart’, grows with large green and yellow foliage giving sunshine whatever the weather.

The pathway pathway through the ‘Seaside Garden’ leads us on to the ‘Rill Garden’ and then the ‘Winter Border’. There are so many interesting foliage plants to enjoy here.

Pittosporum, buddleia, cyclamen and drimys.

Below – euphorbia, Buddleia salvifolia and hebe.

Below – coprosma, lamium, santolina, a Buddleia davidii and lavender.

From the Winter Garden we follow the central path and take a left turn beneath a wooden arch into the the ‘Sensuous Garden’. Here lives the amazingly coloured and variegated Osmanthus heterophylus ‘Goshiki’, which is cloud pruned to make it even more of a feature.

For the next part of my wander I walked alongside the heritage apple trees grown as cordons and the along the Spring Garden to see what variegated or glaucous foliage we could find there.

On the left is Euphorbia ‘Ascot Rainbow’, above right is another hebe and finally one of our native euophorbias.

Below – stachys, centauria, and an arum.

The final pair of foliage photos taken in our back garden are another different euphorbia and a very glaucous leaved hebe.

A new month and a new year for my garden journal, and the cold wet and windy weather continues as before.

Muscari were the stars of the first page of this month, one of my favourite early bulbs. Over the last few years we have managed to find a few more unusual ones.

I began the year by writing, “January 2023, a new month and a new year in our Avocet garden. With our climate changing as it is, it is difficult to guess what this year will bring. the weather presented to us last year made gardening more difficult than ever before. The heavy rain and strong winds carried over from December into the first day of the new year. On the second we awoke to a bright dry day, the first for some time.

I took advantage of the break in the weather to plant the last spring bulbs, which is weeks late. We had several packs of muscari to plant, one of my favourite flowering bulbs. I started with a mixed pack called ‘Blueberries and Cream’ all 50 of them. Then I planted a white called ‘White Magic’, 30 pale-flowered ‘Valerie Finnis’ and finally35 bicoloured M. ‘latifolium’.”

Wildlife featured on the opposite page where I wrote, “Wildlife enlightens our patch at this time of the year, driven in by the weather and drawn in by the plants provided for it. Wildlife lifts the gloomiest of days through colour, movement and song. Blackbirds and their cousins the thrushes busily strip colourful berries from the trees and shrubs we grow especially for them. We regularly check stored apples and some are always damaged or show signs of rot. These are thrown onto lawns and borders. These birds soon finish them off with a little help from wood mice, voles and shrews.

The hedgehog feeding stations are visited very infrequently at this time of year. In milder periods they will go wandering to visit and enjoy the water and dry food we supply for them.

When working in the garden we come across worms near the surface , and also discover frogs of all ages and sizes on the move. Soon we should have spawn in some of the ponds.

Bird sounds change now, their calls becoming songs which are far more cheerful and uplifting. Also some birds begin to explore nestboxes and natural nest sites to ensure they get the best. Bluetits and robins have already taken possession of boxes.

When gardening we often find ourselves among flocks of birds, usually titmice and finches. I love being in the garden when a flock of long tailed tits arrive, surrounding me with gentle calls and beautiful colours. A group of these ‘lollipop birds’ is called a ‘Zephyr’, which means a soft gentle breeze – so apt!”

Over the page I feature catkins and on the opposite page I take a look at garden jobs we were involved in.

I noted,“January is the month when catkins appear on our betula and salix, birches and willows. In the countryside all around us hazels are dripping with their chartreuse coloured catkins.”

I then shared ten photos of some of our catkins. The top row shows Salix gracilistylus ‘Mount Aso’.

Next I shared two photos of a close relative of ‘Mount Aso’ called ‘Salix gracilistyla melanostachys’.

Then two photos of Betula albosinensis ‘Chinese Ruby’.

I will finish looking at catkins with three photos of another Betula, B. ‘Hergest’.

On the opposite page to these catkins was a page about working in the garden. I noted that, “Although January doesn’t often present us with decent gardening weather, we still wrap up warm and enjoy time outside! It is so good for us physically and mentally.”

We also cut down our old Prunus autumnalis which had died in the summer. We had our daughter Jo and her partner Ed to do the heavy work.

We can now turn over to two pages featuring trees with peeling bark, the first page being all betulas. I noted that, “Some of the ornamental trees we grow in our garden were chosen for their interesting bark, colour and texture. Betulas do this for us more than any other. But they also have another aspect of beauty for us to enjoy, peeling bark.”

Below; Betula albosinensis ‘Kanzu’.

Below; Betula albosinensis ‘China Ruby’

And below; Betula albosinensis septentrionalis

On the opposite page, the penultimate page for this month, I look at another two betulas with peeling bark plus a prunus that does the same.

Below; Betula ‘Hergest’

Below; Betula utilis jacquemontii ‘Snow Queen’

Below; The odd one out – Prunus serrula

So now we reach the final page for January which features more garden tasks. I noted that, “Whenever the weather allowed, which was very infrequent, we dressed up against cold and wet and spent time in the garden. We never knew what the weather would throw at us – rain, sleet, hail, snow, howling winds. Sometimes several of these would arrive on the same day.

We top dressed trees with shredded autumn leaves and finished off the board between the bark path and the gravel of the new eating area.

Jude planted some beautiful cyclamen given to us by gardening friends who came for lunch.

Ian cut down perennials in the Chicken Garden and we checked all tree stakes and ties.

All too soon January came to an end but hopefully it has taken the rotten weather with it.