Ten Favourite February Blooms.

Well , the weather has been so cold-blooded and grey since my last Favourite Bloom post , that not a great good deal has happened . We still have hellebores and snowdrops , only more so . But this weekend , delight , oh joy , the sun come out and I took some photograph . It ’s rain down again today of course .

Sorry if you find them less than captivating , but February is the calendar month of the snowdrop . alas , good Pip ’s snowdrop perceptiveness years are long gone , but here he is again to prompt me what a groovy little garden associate he was .

One advantage of be in a 500 class old theater is that there have been many years for snowdrops to establish themselves and make carpets . They are not thought to be aboriginal . In medieval times , they were extensively planted in abbeys , priories and God’s acre , and from there made their way to local gardens , roadsides and woodlands . I suspect previous owner add mine from the nearby church . Not only did the early church building take over pagan festivals but they claimed favored flowers as well . Snowdrops were consociate with Candlemas and the refinement of the Virgin . It is odd that there was , and perhaps still is , a superstition that it is ill-fated to pluck and bring into the house these symbols of purity . It belike started in priggish times when as it grew in God’s acre so prolifically , it was associated with last . It does n’t give up me enjoying little vessel of them .

Green-tippedGalanthus nivalis

These two pictures below were taken in different role of the garden and the colony are different and so perhaps come from different generator . wood anemone en masseSome of them are green leaning .

Green - tippedGalanthus nivalis

I have a pretty one that must have hybridised with one of my Greatorex doubles . I have most of the squeamish neat Shakespearean heroines , ‘ Ophelia ’ , ‘ Desdemona ’ and ‘ Titania ’ as well as ‘ Hippolyta ’ , ‘ Jaquenetta ’ and one which just has a telephone number ’ G71′.

Green-tippedGalanthus nivalis

Galanthus‘Ophelia ’

But I did n’t plant this beauty . And then , great excitement , amongst the ordinary look-alike I find this whacker . The double snowdrop , Galanthus nivalis ‘ Flore Pleno ’ is variable but mine have pocket-sized , smashing little potato of interior segments . I put one of the common little ones in a vase with the big one to show the difference . It has a huge flower and four aberrant , longsighted interior segments . Next year if it has bulked up a mo I will duplicate scale it . I know that non - enthusiasts think they all look the same and many of them are so alike that even experts ca n’t differentiate them apart and there is an constituent of Emperor ’s clothes about them . Having said that , there are many with significant difference .

Almost hidden by the heather , I incur that ‘ Trymlet ’ has bulked up nicely . It has distinctive green markings on the outer petals .

Galannthus‘Trymlet ’

Skinny ‘ Wasp ’ is instantly recognisable .

Galanthus‘Wasp ’

Galanthus‘Wendy ’s atomic number 79 ’ is famous for its yellow-bellied markings . I bought it last year so it is quite small at the moment .

Galanthus‘Wendy ’s Gold ’

There are other yellow marked snowdrops , this one is ‘ Spindlestone Surprise ’

Galanthus‘Spindlestone surprisal ’

Galanthus plicatus‘Edinburgh Ketton ‘ has a trenchant green heat content marking n the inner segment .

Galanthus plicatus‘Edinburgh Ketton ’

Green-tippedGalanthus nivalis

Ok , I could go on and on , but I can palpate you have unsatisfied , just one more for now ; I might try and sneak a few more in another billet . Galanthus woronowisoon bulks up into lovely rug with dulcet smelling flowers and very distinctive apple green leaves .

Galanthus woronowii

February is also the month forLeucojum vernumwhich has dear little tiffany lamp shade flowers on short stems . They are pretty and they presently clump up nicely , but there is never the excitement of finding something a bit different unless you have the twin - headed one Leucojum vernumvar . ‘ Vagneri ’ or the yellow tippedLeucojum vernumvar . ‘ Carpathicum ’ . I used to have the yellowness tumble one but it seems to have turn back to green .

Galanthus‘Ophelia’

Leucojum vernum

This little ducky is not to be confused with the magniloquent small- headedLeucojum aestivumwhich seeds all over and is quite undistinguished . Despite its name ‘ aestivum ’ meaning ‘ summer ’ , it starts bloom in February .

Leucojum aestivum

I could talk all day about snowdrops but I am also a hellebore bore . They commence last calendar month , they seem even better now and in March they will still look good , so they take us very nicely over the winter . Here are a few .

It is worth peer up the skirts of this next one as it is anemone- flowered , with a keen little choker of midget petals at heart .

Last calendar month the tommies , Crocus tommasinianuswere starting but now there are carpets of them . They sow around everywhere .

Crocus tommasinianus

They vary in spook from pale lilac to rich purple and now and then a yellow one appears . This one is doing a Chamaeleon human activity to blend in with the wintertime aconites .

Next the little species crocus appear , much daintier than their fat Dutch cousins .

Galannthus‘Trymlet’

I showed you my earliest cherished daffodil , ‘ Cedric Morris ’ in December and then again in January . Now we have the the more substantialNarcissus‘Rijnveld ’s Early Sensation ’ which is always in bloom by February and some years as early as January . If you want an other unfolding daffodil , this is the one to go for and it is widely available .

NarcissusRijnveld ’s Early Sensation

Another very other one is the small and I think prettierNarcissus‘Spring Dawn . It has pallid petals and a cryptic sensationalistic trumpet .

Galanthus‘Wasp’

Narcissus‘Spring Dawn ’

It ’s perhaps chouse to feature Narcissus ‘ Jet Fire ’ in with my February blooms . This potful is in the nursery , the 1 in the garden wo n’t be blossom for a while . I hump it for its reflexed petals and bright orangish trumpets .

Narcissus cyclamineus‘Jetfire ’

Galanthus‘Wendy’s Gold’

Little fleur-de-lis are a joyfulness for weeks if you have some early ones in the glasshouse and plant betimes and late flowering ones . ‘ Pauline ’ is very early and is finished now . I have just squeeze out in the rain to photograph loveyIris reticulata‘Halkis ’ which is in a pot . I make out this one because of the contrast of the sky blue and the purple . Actually , it does n’t seem very purple in the photograph so you will just have to take my word for it .

Iris reticulata ‘ Halkis ’

In the front garden this little bunch below comes back yr after year . Iris reticulatahybrids are very jolly but by and large they have to be considered as annuals , at the most you will get two years out of them . ButIris histrioideshybrids , like those in the photo below are much more long lasting . Iris histrioides‘Major ’ is becoming quite scarce for some intellect , but there are plenty of other histrioideshybrids usable . If you look carefully atIris reticulataflowers they are always penny-pinching than those ofIris histrioideswhich have wide capitulation .

Galanthus‘Spindlestone Surprise’

Iris histrioides‘Major ’

‘ Katherine Hodgkin ’ is a authentic one as she is a hybridisation between a scandalmongering oneIrisWinogradowiiandIris histrioides . Cathy atRamblinginthegardenhas picked her Katharine for a delightful vase today .

rainfall - soakedIris‘Katharine Hodgkins ’

Galanthus plicatus‘Edinburgh Ketton’

I know many citizenry are n’t keen on mahonias but I like them for their architectural forms and racemes of primrose colorize flowers . Mahonia‘Charity ’ and ‘ Winter Sun ’ take us through the autumn and wintertime and now we have my pet , Mahonia japonica . I love it because it is the most powerfully scented of all of them , you smack it as you walk by instead of having to bury your nose in it . It smell of lily of the vale .

Mahonia japonica

Another winter favourite is the enchantress hazel . I have n’t shown my stinker colouredHamamelis‘Pallida ’ or the deep yellow , ‘ Arnold Promise ’ this yr because ignominiously I permit them get too dry just as they were forming buds . The flowers are really thin and next class I will be careful to mulch them and keep them from drying out . But I did buy a young one this class . A I explain to Cathy , I bought it by mistake when I get going to buy orchis at my local farm shop . It was sitting there all lonely and at a very sensible toll at the exit . Clearly it had my name on it .

Galanthus woronowii

Hamamelis x intermedia‘Westerstede ’

I know I featured the endearing queen of the Daphnes , Daphne bholua‘Jaqueline Postill ’ in December and again in January , but she just goes on getting better and better . If I could open it I would have a plantation of Jacquelines .

Daphne bholua‘Jacqueline Postill ’

Leucojum vernum

But this month I have a tree which is competing for my tending . It is the beautiful Japanese Apricot , Prunus mume‘Beni - chidori ’ . It has really dark pink single blossom and it is gently fragrant .

genus Prunus mume‘Beni - chidori ’

If you have time do join me and show your favourite February blooms .

Leucojum aestivum

52 Responses toTen Favourite February Blooms.

Thanks for such a gravid military post ! Your garden is a February curiosity , kudos ! I also have some adorable blooms in my garden these days . There are some photos with them on my blog .

One can never see too many winter blooms and you ’ve shared some spectacular examples . Thanks also for sharing the interesting wood anemone history and their association with Candlemas !

think it or not , under your tutelage and that of some other snowdrop aficionados , I ’ve come to recognize and appreciate the departure among some of these bloom . Anything that grows en masse as your snowdrop do , especially when the conditions is less than hospitable , is to be value . In fall , I set some Leucojum aestivum ( not really so average here ! ) but they ’ve yet to make an coming into court , possibly due to our exceptionally affectionate winter .

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Oh my goodness – natural spring has sprung in your garden ! My situation is similar to Cynthias , and I agree wholly about February . We presently are coated in ice , which is much worse than snow . I trust it will all meld soon . Then I will venture out and check over on any star sign of spring I can find . cheerfulness !

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Ten Favourite February Blooms.