A dusting of snow and the first signs of Spring

Although January was quite mild here in Devon, the beginning of February has seen our first dusting of snow. This is always the coldest month of the year in our opinion but one which heralds the beginning of Spring as the garden (and nursery) are transformed with small signs of life, early flowering bulbs and an abundance of birds, busy paring up and preparing nest sites.

Many of our spring bulbs have emerged from their winter slumber and are ready for sale. Bellavalia 'Green Pearl', Fritillaria michailovski, Romulea bulbocodium, Narcissus 'Spoirot' and Narcissus 'Sabrosa' are all budding up and the striking Helleborus 'Dark as Night' is throwing up flower spikes. Our daphnes are also coming into bud and will soon start to flower, giving up their wonderful perfume. Of course the snowdrops, (true jewels of winter), have been flowering for some time now and as the sun climbs higher each day, warming the earth a little more, now is a great time to be planting them out in the green. And one of our favourites, Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin' has been brightening my walk down the path to the lane every morning since early January.

Daphne tangutica is a small, evergreen shrub with dark glossy leaves and clusters of highly fragranced flowers in spring.

Galanthus nivalis is a truly hardy bulb with nodding heads of white flowers, tinged with green, from late winter into the spring.

As well as sending out early website orders, this month we're busy preparing orders of some of the plants we contract grow for larger nurseries and garden centres. The Semi-aquilegia 'Sugar Plum Fairy' is bursting into life in the tunnel house and so I can remove the moss that has provided some winter protection for each of the pots and top dress them for delivery in April.

The Dodecatheon order which is going out in March is also waiting for some attention. These pots stay outside all winter but nevertheless need a little sprucing up before they start to emerge and are delivered. Dodecatheon is such an exotic looking plant but tough as old boots; their striking flowers remind me of birds of paradise. They lie dormant all winter and start to throw up growth around the end of February, flowering from early April through to the end of May. The vibrant colour of D. pauciflorum 'Red Wings' stands out amongst the more subtle colours of D. pauciflorum and the taller D. pauciflorum 'Meteor'. Dodecatheon pauciflorum 'Comet' is a large flowered white cultivar raised here on the nursery. The flowers begin small in its first year but in the second and third year you see their ultimate size.

EUROPEAN DELIVERY NOW AVAILABLE

We are now accepting online orders from the following European countries: Republic of Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Postage and packaging will be added automatically at the checkout and you can find out more about pricing here.

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