What’s looking good in the garden?

Hitchin

People has teamed up with Garden Designer, Maxine and Caroline from ARCH Gardening to bring you some helpful hints and tips to keep your garden looking its best through

the seasons. 

Maxine’s Design

Tips

At this

time of year the garden can look quite ‘flat’, especially if you have lots of

perennials that don’t do their thing until summer.

Here’s a

few plants to liven the borders in the early spring…giving a bit of colour and

maybe a bit of ‘wow’ to even the most grim of days !

Evergreen shrubs (keep their leaves)

Elaeagnus

× ebbingei 'Gilt Edge' – has green leaves with yellow edging, ideal for a darker corner!

Skimmia japonica

'Rubella' – deep green leaves with massive spikes of red

flowers … excellent for winter pots 

Flowers on bare stems

Chimonanthus

praecox (picture 1) – waxy

looking pale yellow flowers, amazingly perfect shapes … with a delicate scent

Viburnum

bodnantense ‘Dawn’ – sweet

smelling delicate pink flowers on bare stems

Coloured stems 

Cornus

sanguinea ‘Midwinter fire’ (picture 2) – gorgeous salmony/red coloured stems

‘Rubus

Cockburnian-us’ - white stemmed bramble (goes well with the cornus and what a

great name !)

Closer to the ground (you just have to bend

down to see them!)

Snowdrops (picture 3) – these are looking lovely, and their ‘winter white’ colour really stands out

from a distance…  but do take a closer

look at them to see how pretty they are ! 

Hellebores (picture 3) – the flowers are just starting to open, with little nodding heads in some

great colours – I love the dark purple ones! 

Lovely with some snowdrops planted nearby.

Max

Email: maxine@maxyourgarden.co.uk

Maxine

Tricker Garden Design

Caroline’s Maintenance Tips

The weather in February is so

unpredictable (more than any other month I’d say!).  Although the days are generally getting

longer, we can have snow blizzards or sunshine! 

However, when the weather allows there is plenty that can be done in the

garden. 

The weeds will be starting, so it is

a good time to remove them while they are young and then mulch your beds and

borders with a mulch, bark is ideal. 

This will cut down your work in the spring and into summer, so you can

enjoy those long lazy days that we all look forward to.

Any cutting back that hasn’t been

done can also be tackled. The cutting back of buddleias, wisterias (at the

beginning of the month) and all the herbaceous plants that have become tangled

over the winter can now be cut down and again mulched.  If the weather has been mild enough, you may

see some new shoots poking through, isn’t it amazing how nature survives those

winter months.

Caroline

Email: info@archgardening.co.uk

ARCH Gardening 

I am very please to announce that

these lovely ladies have agreed to make their gardening advice article a

monthly feature on Hitchin People.  So

look out for more gardening design and maintenance tips next month.