The birds got it wrong, didn’t they. There they were, all optimistic and full of song and now winter has returned with a vengeance. It isn’t snowing here any longer, but it hasn’t melted and the ground is frozen solid. No worms for the ‘early bird’ to catch at the moment. A week or so ago, the soil temperature was around 5C, now it is back to just above 0C.

 

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Hydrangea aspera is a lovely shrub with large and colourful summer lacecap flowers and interesting peeling winter bark. ‘Hot Chocolate’, with its chocolate brown foliage, adds another colourful feature.

It’s the broad, 20-30cm, lacecap flowers which are the plant’s main appeal. The ring of large pink florets around the rim of the flower heads surrounds a broad mass of much smaller violet florets in the centre, and when the plant is covered with them in July the effect is dramatic. Flowering may continue into September.

In ‘Hot Chocolate’ there is a valuable additional feature, the foliage. The leaves open in spring in dark chocolate brown, eventually becoming dark green and making an ideal background for the flowers. Then, in autumn, the foliage changes to amberish yellow with orange highlights. And all the way through, the underside of each leaf is wine red.

‘Hot Chocolate’ makes an impressive specimen up to about 3m high and 2m wide, if necessary it can be pruned thoughtfully in spring. It is happiest in light shade in well-drained soil, and is unusual amongst hydrangeas in growing well on chalk; wet soil should be avoided.

You can order Hydrangea aspera ‘Hot Chocolate’ from Gardening Express and also from Hayloft Plants.

Also look out for these new plants…

Antirrhinum ‘Twinny’ - a new double flowered form from DT Brown, from Mr Fothergill’s and from Thompson & Morgan.

Crocosmia ‘Twilight Fairy Gold’ – golden flowers and bronze foliage, from Cotswold Garden Flowers.

Tomato rootstock ‘Estimo – if you’d like to try grafting your own tomatoes, from Kings Seeds.

 

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This winter seems to be lasting forever, but the birds know that spring is on the way. Pigeons (Columba palumbus), who always start early, already have young ones in the nest as seen from discard shells on lawns and pathways. Other birds are toying with nesting materials, picking up moss and plant stems to examine their suitability for building. The singing is noticeably louder – robins, dunnocks, thrushes and chaffinches are now all in full voice and their songs fill the air from dawn to dusk.

 

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(L-R) Judi, Carolyn and Linda pose for the camera 

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Cosmos is one of the easiest annuals to grow. The seeds are relatively large, and easy to handle; seeds germinate quickly; young plants are strong and vigorous; flowering plants are prolific. And there are varieties in a wide range of colours and flower forms. They’re great in borders and good for cutting. Convinced? You know there’s a “but” coming, right? Right – well, kind of....

The problem is that varieties tend to deteriorate over the years, as it’s expensive for the seed companies to keep them as good as they should be. In particular, season after season, they can get taller, and develop more leaves and fewer flowers. So cosmos varieties are often at their peak when they’re new, or soon after.

‘Pink Popsocks’ is new out this year and this is the time to grow it. With its intriguing range of flower forms including singles, doubles and anemone-centred forms as well as flowers in pure colours and two-tone flowers - and all in soft pink - not to put too fine a point on it, but in five years time it may not be quite so impressive.

Reaching about 60cm in height, ‘Pink Popsocks’ integrates well into mixed borders in sunny sites, and can also be grown as a cut flower – what better way to liven up the allotment than a row of ‘Pink Popsocks’ between the cabbages? Sow indoors in March in gentle heat and keep the plants growing well, or sow outside in May.

You can order seed of Cosmos ‘Pink Popsocks’ from Nicky’s Nursery.

 

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I had an enjoyable afternoon renovating a gloomy corner of a garden the other day. Some overhanging branches of a large sycamore tree in a neighbouring garden had been removed the year before and the space revealed made it clear how the nearby shrubs had been straining for light. A Rosa moyesii had leaned over and laid half of its tall stems over a Viburnum tinus, which was itself leaning over a variegated Photinia davidiana ‘Palette’. As I stood looking at it all and thinking about where to begin work, I spotted an old nest perched on top of the confused mass of stems. It was obviously old because there was grass growing out of the top, so I got it down for a closer look and was fascinated to discover that the original nest had been re-purposed, not once but twice.

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The birds are already nesting and for the past week, I’ve seen the discarded white shells of half a dozen pigeon eggs on lawns and pathways. Pigeons always start nesting early, though, and they finish late in the year. Now that March is with us and the weather is starting to warm again, other birds are thinking of nesting. More birds are singing, to attract mates and defend their territories. Various materials are being gathered and arranged with secret skills into snug nests. In trees, bushes, hedges, sheds, plant pots, nooks and crannies and even the pocket of a coat left hanging on a tree, great works are being carried out.

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We’ve seen quite a few new variegated weigelas in recent years, some have been very colourful while some have been disappointing. Magical Rainbow ('Kolmagira') is different in that as well as the attractively cream-edged foliage there’s a strong pink or reddish tint in the summer growth.

Reaching about 3-5ft/0.9-1.5m in height, and about the same in width, Magical Rainbow branches well to create a bushy plant. The leaves are wider than those of most weigelas and retain their variegation from when the leaves open in April till they fade and fall in October. The red colouring of the shoots harmonises with the red tinted summer leaves.

In May and June, the flowers open. In the usual flared trumpet shape, each bloom is pale pink and a darker shade, almost red, on the backs – especially towards the base of the tube of the flower. This dark colouring shows through into the throat of the flower. The flowers are sterile, they produce no seed capsules or seeds, which helps encourage prolific flowering.

Happiest in full sun, the foliage does not scorch, and in any reasonably fertile soil, trials at the RHS Garden at Wisley revealed that it does not thrive in shade. Prune after flowering, or not at all.

Magical Rainbow was developed by Dutch plant breeder Peter Kloster in a breeding programme designed to develop attractive new variegated weigelas.

Weigela Magical Rainbow ('Kolmagira') has been available very occasionally in the past, but is now available more widely from Hayloft Plants.

 

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Some of the best new hellebores of recent years have been hybrids involving the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, and this new one, ‘Candy Love’ is a fine newcomer.

Described by Bob Brown who runs Cotswold Garden Flowers, and is also vice chair of the RHS Herbaceous Plant Committee ,as “better than any I've grown so far” - which considering he named an earlier plant of this type ‘Bob’s Best’ is quite an accolade.

The leathery, boldly toothed, evergreen foliage is deep green overlaid in pewter with contrasting purple stems and veins. Then from late December well into April and May the clusters of creamy buds open to pale apricot flowers steadily darkening to pink then misty purple with red and pink tints.

Flowering well as a young plant, ‘Candy Love’ is vigorous and soon develops into a specimen for a container or the front of a sunny border.

Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ was created in Belgium by Thierry Van Paemel who crossed his own selections of H. niger and H. lividus. This plant was picked out from the resulting seedlings in 2005 for its prolific flowering, its long flowering period and for its vigorous growth as well as its exceptional flower colour. Considering that it has the relatively tender H. lividus in its background, it’s very heartening to see that ‘Candy Love’ has proved hardy down to -20C.

Helleborus ‘Candy Love’ is available from Cotswold Garden Flowers (scroll down).

 

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