My garden goes into limbo during December . It ’s trapped somewhere between fall and wintertime , quiver in a cool down green aspic . All colour other than green has been drained by the cold and dehydrate by the wind , leaving me with pots and borders that are either empty and grey , or overflowing with lush greenery . frost have yet to arrive at this coastal corner of Kent and believably wo n’t until the New Year , if they get in at all . Some age we escape , other years we do not .
Plants from the Canary Islands and Madeira always put on an impressive growth spurt before Christmas . I assume this is because they opt to do their growing during the cooler , wetter months in their aboriginal habitat . If anyone knows better I would be proud of to be put aright . The Madeira crane’s bill , Geranium maderense , takes off at incredible footstep , throwing out immense , fine - divided leaves in all directions , inundate anything nearby before staple it to the earth . An constituted plant might measure 6 ft across by March . Geranium maderenseseedlings set out seem everywhere in December , as they did after the Beast from the East in April . I have never needed to seed a individual cum , apart from when I introduced ‘ Guernsey White ’ , which is a most splendid salmagundi with white petal around a Battle of Magenta heart . Whether my tender geranium live on to bloom in April , or whether they are reduce to black skeletons resemble give up umbrellas , remains to be seen . I have my fingers and toe firm cross .
During December I can keep my garden ticking over on a distich of hours study a week . I ca n’t save a great slew more than that . Sweeping up is a routine project that I bask . It ’s one of those transformative tasks like pare a hedgerow or edge a lawn that can instantly make a garden look crisp and well give care for . The independent result I have is with the incessant wind , which turns sweeping into more of a biz than a chore . The latest plant to shed its folio isRosa banksiae‘Lutea ’ , a climber which is now swamping its host Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and may have to get the chopper before spring arrives .
Whilst I savour the mere verdure of the garden in December , I do wish to add on it with whitened flowers . Winter is the only time of the yr when I show any restraint in the garden , perhaps because I am pass angry with colour indoors . White Cyclamen purpurascens are my ‘ go to ’ plants . They are resistant to cold and unphased by strong winds , producing perky small prime above ash grey leaf for months on ending . These intercrossed cyclamen dislike dampish and enjoy good ventilating system , hence I set them proud of the grime surface to appropriate air to circulate and forbid grey mould setting in . The lilliputian blanched flowers produce a sweet , delicate scent , observable even on a cold twenty-four hour period . It ’s a wonderful treat to becharm the perfume tramp across the garden as I give chase those goddam leaves with my broom . TFG .
P.S. Apologies for the quality of lead image . The estimate was good ( I cogitate ) but time was myopic and the lighting very poor !
Share this with others:
Like this:
Categories : Christmas , Musings , Our Coastal Garden , Weather
post by The Frustrated Gardener
