Winter-flowering Lenten rose

THE snowdrops in our garden are abundant. In an area that was cleared and turned three winters ago, the stock has recovered and flowered profusely this year. I have been so keen to look at the snowdrops that I almost missed the emergence of another great winter plant.

Helleborus x hybridus, or more popularly called the Lenten rose, flowers from mid-winter to spring and is a member of a family of hardy perennials most of which bloom in the early part of the year.

The range of colours of H x hybridus is quite extensive and includes green, yellow, white and shades of purple and pink. Many, like ours in the photograph, are freckled with colour on the inside of each petal.

These hellebores are quite easy to grow but need to be left alone once planted. They seem to resent being moved, so division for propagation isn’t usually advised.

Instead look for seedlings around the mother plant which will begin to appear once the original plant is flowering freely. The babies are often nestled under the semi-evergreen leaves of the plant, where they can grow, protected from a cold winter or hot summer.

They can be potted up and grown on in a shaded sheltered spot. It takes about three years for a seedling to grow mature enough to flower.

Moist, fertile soil in semi-shade is the preferred option for Helleborus x hybridus. We have two clumps near the house, one east-facing which flowers first, the other west-facing which is just at the bud stage at the moment.

Once planted there is little effort involved looking after these plants. Keep new plants well watered if their first summer is hot and dry, and give them a good mulch each autumn to enrich the soil.

Old leaves should be removed as the flower buds emerge, but any new foliage that has begun to appear can be left.

Some gardeners take away all the foliage at this point. I used to do this but feel the flowers look lost without any greenery, so allow a few of the youngest and healthiest leaves to remain as a background for the beautiful blooms.

The older leaves tend to fall away from the plant as the flowers emerge so these can be cut off first. Removing any marked or tatty foliage will open up the plant and allow the blooms to be seen more clearly. If the plant is still too crowded, selecting a few more leaves that are obscuring the flowers to prune will give a much clearer view of the blooms.

NB: Take time to do this task, it is easy to snip off a new bloom in error or to damage seedlings around the base of the plant.

In the veg patch

IT IS time to start chitting seed potatoes. Just stand them in a light, cool, frost-free place and the buds will soon start to appear. Egg boxes or trays if you can get hold of any are ideal for the potatoes to stand in.

February pruning

IT IS time to start pruning those deciduous shrubs that flower later in the year such as Buddleia davidii.

The winter has stayed so mild that many buddleias will already be starting into growth with velvety pale green leaves appearing along the length of the stems. This makes pruning much easier as the cut simply needs to be made just above a new bud or leaf.

Buddleias can be cut as hard back as needed to keep the plant a reasonable size. Hard pruning is when all the stems are taken back to a bud about 30cm above the ground. Lighter pruning will create a larger shrub and staggered pruning will extend the flowering season.

This latter method is done by leaving some branches uncut, some taken hard back and the rest cut to varying lengths. Flowering will start earlier on the unpruned stems and later on those cut more severely.

Gardening TV and radio

7.30am, BBC2, Monty Don’s Italian Gardens. Monty visits gardens in Rome.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis. Julia answers gardening phone and email questions and goes out and about in North Yorkshire.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Panellists Chris Beardshaw, Bunny Guinness and Anne Swithinbank answer questions from gardeners in Wyke Regis in Weymouth. The chairman is Peter Gibbs.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Chairman Eric Robson and panel members Chris Beardshaw, Matt Biggs and Pippa Greenwood advise the audience at the British Geological Survey headquarters in Nottingham.