A graceful snowdrop called ‘Ailwyn’, shiny yellow greenhouse lemons and a first hellebore – the January garden is revving up with plenty to offer.
Greenhouse lemons
This plant was a gift for my birthday almost three years ago and has just had its best crop ever. After a summer in the garden this small potted tree is in the greenhouse where the temperature has remained just above zero, even on the coldest nights so far.
I now pander to it with specialist fertiliser. Most of my plants only get a liquid seaweed or tomato food but I’ve found citrus tricky, the leaves showing a deficiency of something, I’m just not sure what. Using a specialist citrus feed reassured me that whatever it’s been missing, it’s now getting. My reward – six lemons!
Viburnum bodnantense 
The best specimens of this shrub are smothered each winter in clusters of pretty pink flowers – like the explosion of a candy floss machine. Mine is sprinkled rather than smothered but the flowers are pretty nonetheless. The shrub itself has a lovely structure and shape. This wall of the house faces north and gets no sun so with that context, I’m happy enough with how this shrub is performing. 
Galanthus ‘Ailwyn’ (aka ‘Lady Fairhaven’)
My snowdrop passion continues to burn. I was fussing about on Ebay this week and almost bid on some rather expensive ones but realised lockdown was getting the better of me and I should back away. Afterwards I scrolled through many websites of snowdrop nurseries and whilst I was tempted by a few, I’ve realised that I already possess many of my favourites – and Ailwyn is one of them.
Some double snowdrops are a bit unrefined but not this lovely lady. When closed, the flowers have the fullness of a Spanish infanta’s skirts and sure enough, tip them up and you see layers and layers of the petticoat-like inner sepals.
As these ones are in a pot, I brought them into the greenhouse to open up in the warmth. You can see the difference in these two pictures.
Lampranthus update
This bedraggled mess is more limpranthus than Lampranthus. It was my knock-out rock garden plant of 2020, smothered in large sun-loving daisy flowers with filaments as long as false eyelashes.
It had grown so well and draped itself so attractively over the nearby rocks that I decided to leave it be and test its hardiness. Whilst the fleshy needle-shaped leaves have dropped off, the main stems still seem firm and robust so I’m hoping it’ll spring back to life once the weather warms up. If not then I’m pleased I had the foresight to take some cuttings. All have rooted and are safe in the greenhouse.
Highlights in the greenhouse
It’s official – my greenhouse is a mess. The plants need a good checking over, move around and picking over. It’s a job I’m saving for a sunny day when the warmth under glass will be hard to resist.
Until then, I shall ignore the mess and focus instead on the things that are looking great – like the pure white lewisia which is loving the cool, airy dryness of the greenhouse and the potted snowdrop Helen Tomlinson.
First Hellebore
I say it each year but Hellebores up close just look so exotic. Maybe it’s the shape or maybe the speckled markings but either way it wouldn’t look out of place in a greenhouse of tropical specimens. Yet they’re as tough as anything. Plants really are amazing.
This seasonal diary is part of a weekly link-up of garden bloggers from around the world, called Six on Saturday. For more information and links to other blogs crammed with gardening activity, check the blog of host The Propagator.
Thank goodness for the start of the main show of snowdrops. A few mild days has brought them on wonderfully. I love G. ‘Ailwyn’ also, a particularly beautiful flower. G. ‘Godfrey Owen’ is another very pleasing double, perfectly regular with six outers and six inners. With the new Brexit regulations in place we are unable to order anything new from our regular suppliers in the UK. There is so much bother, and extra expense, in sending to Ireland that they are simply unwilling to do so. We have a local supplier – who is supplied mainly by Avon Bulbs – so have ordered a few new ones this week: ‘Lord Lieutenant’, ‘Mandarin’, ‘Gravity’ for Mary and ‘Phillipe Andre Meyer’ for me. It’s always nice to add a few new ones.
Hi Paddy, yes I’d seen notices on nursery websites saying they aren’t exporting to Ireland and other EU countries. I really hope these issues resolve since the cross border trade in rarer plants is so important to the gardening community. I do think I’ll buy a couple of new ones – the Avon catalogue just dropped through the door…
Pretty well deserved reward for your lemon tree. Here too the fruits are starting to ripen but I also have flowers which reappear for the next season. And the foliage can also catch chlorosis so don’t hesitate to add fertilizer to correct the lack of iron in winter
I also took my first photo of hellebore this morning in the snow.
Very pretty snowdrops !
Hi Fred – so is iron deficiency a common thing with citrus? I’m still learning but now I have these lemons I’m feeling more confident.
Yes, chlorosis is the most common leaf disease with citrus. Deficiencies in iron, zinc and potassium are commonly observed. A good fertilizer does the trick and rain water instead of tap water of course.
In the greenhouse it gets rainwater but last summer it was outside and getting water from the hose. I’ll remember to use the water butt instead next summer. Good tip, thanks Fred!
Now you do snowdrops properly Katherine – you don’t just bung them in the ground and hope you can identify them by scrolling back through Instagram like me. If I succumb to any more Galanthus purchases I will learn from you and keep them in pots!
If you do buy any of the collector’s snowdrops it’s worth thinking about pots but they do need repotting every July. If you click the following link you can see how I do it and which compost mix I use. The other option – a half way house – is to plant them in aquatic baskets and sink them into the border soil. That way you don’t lose them or dig them up when weeding in the summer. It’s a trick I learned from my old friend Mr Snowdrop.
https://teabreakgardener.co.uk/how-to-grow-snowdrops/
What a bright, sunny Six-on-Saturday. The snowdrops are beautiful, mine are still a bit shy.
Hi Granny – Snowdrops help me through the winter months. These varieties are quite early flowering ones. My garden ones are still a bit shy but the G. Elwesii are on their way up…
Absolutely beautiful Hellebore picture and the double snowdrop Ailwyn is such a lovely shape with its full skirts.
Thanks Hortus – don’t you just love Hellebores?
Ailwyn looks beautiful. Our winter flowering viburnum has yet to get the hang of this flowering in winter lark. Instead of flowers it now has leaf buds. Words will be had.
Hi Graeme – yes go and have words with your shy viburnum! I have noticed that the older and bigger the specimen, the better it flowers. Purely anecdotal of course.
Nice selection, I like that double snowdrop and the way you describe it. Maybe one day I’ll get into snowdrops!
Careful Sel, snowdrop collection is a slippery slope. Some of them just have very minor variations so I am attracted to the more graceful shaped ones like Ailwyn, or the puckered ones like Diggory, or the green tinged ones like Rosemary Burnham.
You’re right about some just having minor variations, for some reason they just don’t seem to grow so well in my garden, no idea why. I know they can grow well here as I walk past a neighbour’s front garden which is absolutely packed with snowdrops, a beautiful sight!
Lovely plants and photos and a true galanthophile having them indoors in pots so that you can study them and look after them properly. The speckled hellebore is gorgeous. Mine have all cross-bred and I think it is time to go out and remove some of the less interesting ones.
You’ve got some classics of the winter garden there – and choice selections too! Beautiful closeups of the snowdrops and hellebore.
I have a small lemon tree but it’s taking up all of the space in our bedroom at the moment – our greenhouse gets to cold and I’ve run out of other options! It doesn’t look as healthy as yours – I should probably follow suit and pamper it a bit.
Hi Andrew – Overwintering can be such a problem. When I was first given this lemon tree I kept it in the kitchen but I think it does prefer the greenhouse and I’m lucky mine hovers just above zero unless we have a very cold night. I would recommend a citrus feed. It went against my gardening instincts to buy into a specialist fertiliser but it really has made a difference.