Pictures Of Winter Colour

Griselda Kerr, whose garden in melbourne opens for the ngs this month, suggests bright plantings to gladden the garden view.

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TOO FROZEN to prune – and for some plants, too late as the sap is rising; too early to start neatening things up – the evergreens are still liable to frostbite; too difficult to dig – there are too many bulbs and I don’t know where they are; too soggy to mow – the lawn needs a rest; the leaves have blown away or been collected. February is a more peaceful month than many in the garden – perhaps it is my favourite month of all. We now open the garden to the National Gardens Scheme each February and I love the visitors who come. They are so stoic – the type who do not complain about anything, even when they have to venture quite far to find the winter colour.

There are of course many things to do in February including the pruning of plants that can and should be done now, but I generalize to make the point that this is a happy season when one can look and plan and enjoy the garden whilst doing selected jobs which can be given lots of time: jobs like pruning Wisteria, clematis and roses and, whilst happily avoiding digging, cutting back stems in borders that now look rank, to make all look kempt under a duvet of compost.

For me, it is the tiny things growing this month – the jewels – that give huge pleasure. The sparkling white carpet of snowdrops emerges despite my rather rough handling of their division last March; the winter aconites gleam yellow-green; the wondrous hellebore flowers emerge uncluttered since their leaves were removed; the fragrances of daphne in one area, sarcococca in another, make one spin round to see where such glorious scents are coming from; then there is the dabble of crocus giving a skein of colour where I had forgotten to expect it and perhaps best of all, the flash of Iris unguicularis in the rockery making me remember to cut away their leaves to see them better and to bring them into the house to unfold.