Tag: winter gardens

A Garden Bouquet for December

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date December 14, 2013
1 Comment on A Garden Bouquet for December

Already we are almost at the end of the year so here is my December bouquet from our garden,the final chapter in 2013.

It is only mid-December and while in the garden we are treated to the beautiful repetitive piping call of a Song Thrush, already making his territorial proclamation. He must have found a mighty fine territory which he is making sure no-one else can take possession of.

The skies seem full of passing flocks of Redwing and their larger noisier cousins the Fieldfare on migration, escaping their cold food-less summer homes in central Europe. Below them exploring the trees and shrubs of our garden mixed foraging flocks of finches seek out the last of the seeds and berries while amongst them groups of Titmice, Great, Blue, Long-tailed and Coal arrive in hurried flight to explore every nook and cranny of dried stems, tree bark and shrub branches for insects especially spiders.

A few delicate looking soft coloured flowers still hang on determined to be the final blooms of the year. It seems amazing but the odd big bumbling Queen Bumble Bee appears to feed on them.

Berries on shrubs and small trees add extra sparkles of colour but the resident Mistle Thrushes guard them from the migrant thrushes. They are the larder for the colder days to come. The red fruit of the Cotoneasters, Hollies and Rowans will be eaten first and most will have been devoured by the thrushes and Blackbirds before the month is out. The creamy-yellow berries of the Cotoneaster rothschildiana will stay longer being mere second choices. The last to go without fail will be the white berries of the Sorbus, so we can get to enjoy them against dark winter storm clouds before the birds eat them.

At this time of year we can enjoy the dessicated seed heads and old flower heads that have managed to survive the wet times that autumn invariably brings. This year has been so wet that we seem to have fewer still standing than ever before. But a few are putting on a display for us and when covered in a frosty layer or when donning a hat made of snow will look even better. Within them are the remnant autumn leaves as yet to be blown from their branches by blasts of wind.

Signs of next year’s growth are already in evidence like this adventurous bud found on a clematis snuggled between stem and petioles.

Patterns become important in winter as they emerge from seasons hidden away behind plants. So that is the end of my year of garden bouquets for 2013. Perhaps they will return for 2014.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, birds, clematis, dogwoods, fieldfare, foliage plants, garden photography, garden wildlife, gardening, ornamental trees, redwing, seasons, song thrush, thrushes, trees, wildlife, winter, winter gardens

autumn flowering bulbs garden photography gardening hardy perennials irises Winter Gardening

Schizostylus – three pink flowers

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date November 18, 2013

Schizostylus must be one of the most neglected and under-planted bulbous plants there are available to gardeners. And now the poor thing has had its name changed by the botanist boffins! We should now be calling them Hesperantha. Their common name is Kaffir Lily. They hail from South Africa and are members of the iris family.

The commonest must be S. coccinea “Major” with its deep coppery red colouring that zings in any part of the garden when the weather is gloomy from October onwards, often well into early spring.

We recently planted this variety “Pink Princess” with flowers of the palest pink possible.

Our latest addition is this small flowered pink with the evocative name “Fenland Daybreak”. The pink of each petal has the finest dark pink lines on like spiders webs. It is a real beauty.

So there they are our three Schizostylus, three sisters one princess by name but all princesses in beauty.

Tags autumn, autumn colours, autumn plants, garden photography, gardening, Kaffir Lilies, Schizostylus, winter gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials Winter Gardening winter gardens

Celebrating Celandines

Some plants are taken too much for granted and do not get the recognition they deserve. The celandine is just such a plant. Rarely does it find itself in a top ten favourite plant list But when it appears in spring it is a very special plants worthy of celebration. Along our lane sides they shine looking like gold sovereigns glowing in the fresh green of the new year’s grasses.

In our garden alongside the central path sits a bronze leaved selection found by the one and only Christopher Lloyd in a patch of our native celandine in his own garden, Great Dixter. It is called Brazen Hussy and it has the shiniest foliage I have ever seen. It glows so much that taking a photo of it upsets the camera’s metering system and it seems impossible to show the depth of the purple colouring. We love it. We have patches along the water’s edge in our wildlife pond and in the shade border.

We have an orange-flowered variety which has not inherited the family’s ability to spread and in some people’s minds become a nuisance. It keeps us on tenterhooks each spring – we think we have lost it but just as we have given up hope it suddenly springs into rich orange flowers.

Tags foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, spring flowers, winter gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening hardy perennials spring gardening Winter Gardening

A close-up look at the Hellebores in our garden.

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date April 8, 2013
15 Comments on A close-up look at the Hellebores in our garden.

Hellebores never fail to amaze. They flower early and continue in bloom for a long time. They present an unusual range of colours and markings on their petals which can vary in shape. We tend to choose reds and purples, plain and spotted and whites and creams mostly plain.

Let us start by venturing out into the borders armed with flower trug and secateurs, ignoring the chill in the air and nipping off a collection of flowers in a variety of colours.

The individuality of each is best appreciated by displaying them floating in a shallow bowl of water.

Now for a real challenge – looking closely and trying to show their character in water colours. I have chosen the deepest blue-mauve, the yellow-green and the pale yellow with purple streaks.

Tags garden photography, gardening, hellebores, sketch pad, winter gardens

birds gardens open to the public National Trust nature reserves photography Shropshire The National Trust trees wildlife winter gardens woodland

Birches in Winter

Regular readers of Greenbenchramblings will be very aware of my love of Birch trees in all their many guises. In this post I shall highlight our native Betula pendula.

The texture of its silvered bark metamorphoses as it ages from a smooth shining silver to a pattern of deeply fissured elephant skin.

Our native Birch is a relatively short-lived tree so within any mixed woodland fallen specimens litter the ground. They will slowly dissolve away through the actions of the tiniest creatures and a multitude of fungi.

Perhaps the best way to finish off this series of photos of my favourite trees, the Birches, is with a set of pictures of groups of them standing like cold sentinels.

Tags betulas, birches, birds, National Trust, ornamental trees, trees, winter gardens, woodland

colours flowering bulbs garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs Shropshire spring bulbs spring gardening Winter Gardening winter gardens

A Bouquet for March

Here is this month’s “Bouquet” post. The first photo says it all!

There are in fact two flowers visible – both yellow. Our Cornus mas is still in bloom and the flower buds of daffodils are spearing their way through their white duvet.

Let’s hope our April Bouquet is a bit more impressive!

Tags cornelian cherry, cornus, daffodils, dogwoods, garden photography, gardening, shrubs, snow, winter, winter gardens

colours garden design garden photography gardening spring bulbs

The Crocus Lawn

A speaker at one of Shropshire Hardy Plant Society meetings showed photographs of a feature in his own garden that was completely new to us. A crocus lawn. We were so impressed that we immediately ordered 500 bulbs.

It was a slow job planting each one individually. We wanted it to look natural so we scattered the bulbs from a height and planted them where they landed, resisting the temptation to move individuals that were clumped too closely or to fill gaps.

In mid-March things were beginning to get tense as the crocus flowers were patiently waiting for some sunshine to force the buds open. They just stood bolt upright among the grass of the lawn their colours hinting at what we hoped to be enjoying soon.

Close up we could see the beauty of the individual flowers. We just needed a day of sunshine and a bit of warmth for them to open their hearts to us. Fingers crossed firmly!

We didn’t have to wait too long! A day dawned with blue sky above and the sun glowing. In the earlier hours of the day the morning sun glowed but gave heat out that was too weak to reach us as warmth. As the afternoon arrived though, the temperatures rose to the giddy heights of 6 degrees Celsius for a few hours but it was enough to warm our backs and excite the crocus buds into opening. At last we got the opportunity to see if our crocus lawn project was worthwhile.

Ah sweet success! How satisfying!

We have a bag of crocus “in the green” waiting to be added too. We can use them to fill in obvious gaps – next year should then be even better!

I can’t resist putting together portraits of a couple of the crocus in bud and in flower.

Firstly the purple bloom with its orange peel centre …..

….. and then the striped purple and white barley twist blossom.

I wonder – should we call it our “Crocus Lawn” or our “Crocus Meadow”? Any thoughts?

On the morning when I was going to post this crocus lawn post, we woke to another few inches of snow, all very unexpected and not forecast. The white covering gave the crocus lawn a whole new look. The crocus flowers were given a new backdrop against which to perform.

Surprisingly once the snow melted and the sun put on a short show the flowers popped back up and glowed once more as if nothing happened. Amazing!

Tags crocus, garden photography, gardening, lawns, spring bulbs, success, winter, winter gardens

autumn colours colours garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs trees

The ever changing colours of Liquidamber

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 13, 2013
6 Comments on The ever changing colours of Liquidamber

Liquidamber has to be one of the best trees for the small garden in autumn and winter.

It develops the usual colours associated with autumn but holds onto its leaves and the colours get more and more intense as the season progresses.

So for this post I shall regularly take pics of our Liquidamber to illustrate how they change.

The first three photos were taken in October, at which time greens were still bright and frequent amongst the yellows and oranges.

Early in December the colours are richer and not much evidence of green remains.

In mid-December a rim of frost decorated each leaf, emphasising their palmate shape and adding depth to the tints of fire.

By January the leaves are beginning to look dry with browns becoming the commonest colours.

Now in mid-March I would normally be able to enjoy the deepest of red leaves it is possible to imagine and they would be clinging onto their stems until new season leaves force them to release their grip and drop to the ground.

This year this eagerly anticipated redness has failed to appear and the remaining leaves are just crisp and dull brown. Half have already fallen and the others look as if they will soon give up their grip.

Once spring arrives and instigates budburst I shall start taking photos of our Liquidamber once again and follow the progress of its leaves throughout the year.

Tags autumn colours, foliage, foliage plants, garden photography, gardening, liquidamber, ornamental trees, trees, trees for a small garden, winter gardens

colours community gardening garden photography gardening ornamental trees and shrubs shrubs Winter Gardening winter gardens

Stems of dogwoods and willows at BAC

Post author By greenbenchramblings
Post date March 8, 2013
16 Comments on Stems of dogwoods and willows at BAC

Earlier in the winter I posted a blog about the value of coloured stems in our garden. We have lots more up in the community gardens on our allotment site, Bowbrook Allotment Community. Now we have a little sunshine brightening our days I thought it would be interesting to see the colours in Cornus (Dogwoods) and Salix (Willows) that we have accumulated in our 4 year development.

First though a look into my sketchpad.

We put together a collection of stems of all the different Cornus and Salix that we grow in the communal gardens and photographed them on a rare sunny day.

First the Dogwoods ….

….and then the Willows.

Tags coloured bark, coloured stems, community gardening, cornus, dogwoods, garden photography, gardening, salix, shrubs, trees, willow, willows, winter, winter gardens

allotments colours community gardening garden photography gardening meadows winter gardens

Lottie Bulbs

A mid-February walk around our lottie site on a dull grey day was much improved by the colour of the earliest bulbs. Each autumn we invite donations of bulbs from members and now we are seeing and appreciating the results of our members’ efforts.

We grow lots of these early bulbs as they provide very early pollen for any bees that come out on mild days. We need to look after our bee friends as they help pollinate our fruit, peas and beans and many more crops.

The gold of crocuses (or should that be croci or perhaps simply just crocus?) brightens the orchard meadow.

Snowdrops and Winter Aconites go together like chalk and cheese. Together they light up the Winter Garden.

Even in the Summer Garden spring bulbs have a place. These beautiful blue iris cheer everyone up as they pass by.

The tiniest and most delicate flowers of February are those of the cyclamen which mingle with the bark and fallen leaves in the Sensory Garden. The leaves have fallen from the nearby old Oak tree.

Accidental juxtaposition of plants often give the best combinations. These crocus surprised us when they chose to flower above the bronze leaves of a Saxifraga.

We now eagerly await the masses of Daffodils planted around the site and on the grass verges outside our gates. They will be closely followed by the Tulips in their myriad colours.