At this time of year any time snatched in the garden is a welcomed treat. Here in Malvern it has been mild but also very damp with heavy rain on Friday and rain again overnight on Saturday and most of this afternoon.
I have a lot of tidying to do and I am prioritising those parts of the garden where the bulbs will be emerging over the next month or so. I always start with the back slope as I have a lot of Galanthus nivalis planted here, so many that last year I had to divide them and spread some into the adjoining borders. The slope has historically been very shady and so is planted with ferns and epimediums. It's quite amazing how much debris you can clear away from such a small area by the time you have collected up all the fallen leaves, weeded out various seedlings and cut back the dead fern fronds. Over the last year some Iris foetidissima have self-seeded here which I think I will be removing the next chance I have as I want to add another epimedium. It will be interesting to see how the removal of the boundary trees affects this border and whether my ferns will continue to thrive.
The end of the slope just before the bench has really filled out over the last few years. The Fatsia japonica 'Spiderweb' seems to have settled in and has lots of new leaves. The problem I have is how close it is to the fern, whose name I have lost as I was one of my first ferny acquisition, so I am thinking I might have to move the fern but I will think about it for a while.
Also close to opening is Galanthus 'Ding Dong' which is growing in a drier border under the Field Maple. I am really pleased with both of these as I took the decision a couple of years ago to risk my special snowdrops in the ground rather than keep them in pots and so far they have rewarded me with reappearing each year and beginning to bulk up.
Due to the rain overnight this morning was very foggy with little sign of the Malvern Hills behind the house. I was torn as yesterday I had finally bought an extra tree for the front garden and I wanted to plant it. I have felt deep down for some years now that the front garden needed a third tree to balance the Silver Birch and Sorbus. It really irritated me over Christmas so yesterday I popped down to the local plant nursery and bought a Sorbus pseudohepehensis 'Pink Pagoda'. I toyed with another Sorbus vilmorinii like I have in the back garden but it seemed daft to have two the same when there are so many lovely varieties to choose from. This morning, despite the fog I decided to get it planted as I was concerned that next weekend might be much colder and not so conducive to tree planting. I also started weeding the front garden and mulching it. It's a big job as this is its first winter and there are lots of persistent weeds to deal with. I have some planting I want to do over the coming months so some preparation is needed. Sadly I didn't get far as the drizzle reappeared and set in for the rest of the day but at last it was a start.
