In my last blog I was cheered by the number of perennials still flowering in our garden after an unseasonably mild start to the month. How complacent we gardeners become though. No sooner had we made plans for growing more Mediterranean style plants in our borders than the ‘real’ British winter returned with a vengeance.
As December progressed we had pre-Christmas snow in Princes Risborough and the temperature fell overnight to – 12 C at Oxfordshire’s RAF Benson. Even in my cold greenhouse the temperature fell to -9 C. Today, in late January, my heart sank as the overnight temperature was a chilling -7 C. All my greenhouse salvia and penstomen cuttings are looking decidedly sickly and in the vegetable patch, the cavolo nero kale and young aquadulce broad bean plants are cowering in the frost.
The mixed borders have also suffered and the pittosporum tenuifolium shrubs have lost all their leaves. They are supposed to be frost hardy down to – 7C, once established after their first year. The RHS cautiously suggests that you should wait until mid-March, to see if new shoots appear, then feed the bushes with organic plant food or fertilizer. Despite these challenges, frosted sunlit perennials provide a saving grace, as these photos of sedum and agapanthus seeds heads, taken in my garden this morning show.
David Brown
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