It is a tradition for Cottage Garden Society members, and I believe the Wildflower Society to see what’s in flower at this time of year in gardens and in the countryside respectively. I thought I would have a garden rummage too, as the papers are saying how ahead everything is, the world is topsy turvy, gorn mad etc.
Well the haul was pathetic in Berkshire:
- Osteospermum Blackthorn Seedling
- Erysimum Bowles’ Mauve
- Rosmarinus prostratus Capri
- Jasminum nudiflorum
- Sarcococca confusa (just)
- Rosa Rhapsody in Blue (buds)
- Bergenia
- Hebe Midsummer Beauty (bud)
- Cyclamen coum
- Primrose
If I added the Bath garden which on balance is warmer, I could only muster:
- Salvia x jamensis Hot Lips
- Salvia discolor
- Lonicera japonica Halliana
- Primula auricula yellow seedling
- Primula auricula Remus
- Clematis cirrhosa var. balearica
The Sarcococca hookeriana even let me down, still tightly budded. The Clematis is a late winter flowerer anyway so that’s not unusual.
Had I done the count in my mother’s garden the haul would have been somewhat longer, the first aconites were flowering on Christmas Day, Chimonanthus in full flower and a few blooms on the Lonicera x purpusii, Jasminum mesnyi and Rosa Madame Alfred Carriere, to name a few. There are daffodils in full flower in Yeovil, but this particular patch is always incredibly early.