During September, the indoor team will be potting up spring bulbs in the nursery to be used in the Mediterranean House next spring. Hyacinths will be planted in 13cm half pots, 3 bulbs to a pot, each with their noses proud of the compost so that they don’t rot. Daffodils will be planted in 18cm pots, 7 bulbs to a pot. These are planted in two layers: three in the bottom layer and once covered with compost, a second layer of 4 bulbs is added to give a fuller display per pot. Once potted up, the Hyacinths and Narcissus will be placed outside in a north facing, dark covered cold frame until late winter. The cold and dark is needed to initiate good root growth.

The Alpine House is up and running with a changing display of flowering cyclamen.  Look out for Cyclamen hederifolium ‘Stargazer’ it has pure white flowers that are upturned – looking at the stars.

At this time of year, you cannot get a better plant than cyclamen hederifolium.  It is as ‘tough as old boots’, hardy down to minus 25°C, has flowers before its leaves so they show up well and can cope with dry shade under bushes.

Our hedges will continue to be trimmed, early autumn is prefect for trimming yew (taxus baccata).  We will also be finishing the conifer hedges, before it gets too cold.

The second part of the Herbaceous Border is now clear of weeds, and the plants are due for delivery in September.  If they look good we will start planting whilst there is some warmth and moisture in the soil.  Otherwise we will keep them in the nursery, get them growing early spring and plant out later.

We still have some colourful heucheras in the Nursery and they will be planted out as ground cover around the Gardens.  There has been a lot of interest in these ‘coral flowers’ over the last few years and we have selected about eight different cultivars and they are adding interest to many of the shrub beds, see them on the American Bank and in the Grass Garden.  Go and look at the H. ‘Paprika’, H. ‘Citronelle’, and the H. ‘Caramel’ certainly names to make you whet your appetite.

We are still repairing the lawns from our events this summer, topsoil is being spread to fill in the ruts, on the West lawn, and now the grass seed has an excellent chance of success.  Towards the end on the month we will be having contractors on site to de-compact the soil, spread fertiliser and overseed.  This will involve large machinery and the Main Lawn will be out of bounds whilst this work is carried out.  It will only be closed for a couple of days and then the grass sward should recover for next year, and be a perfect backdrop for our many events.

The new play equipment in the Treetops Playground is proving to be very popular. The little houses are perfect for picnicking in, and the cradle swing is very popular with whole groups of children.  We have got a small area of the playground fenced off to allow the newly seeded grass to grow, as soon as it has been cut a couple of times this area will be opened up.

If you saw the hardy geraniums on the Azalea Bank after they had been cut back about six weeks ago, you should see them now! There is plenty of fresh green growth on the plants, helping keep the weeds down and acting as a foil for both the cyclamen and the colchicums that are in full flower.

Towards the end of September, the summer bedding will be replaced with the winter bedding.  We are planting up the summer cacti bed with pansies this year.  We had to stop using pansies as we had a disfiguring fungal disease on them about eight years ago.  The fungal spores should have died out by now and we are planting in gravel so again this should help keep the foliage drier, and problem free.  We are also planting through the bedding with tulips.

Finally, we will be starting to clear up fallen leaves and using our new machine that will help lift the piles of leaves and put them in the trailer. Autumn seems to be starting earlier and earlier, hopefully, there will still be some leaves around on the trees as we are having a tree survey carried out into the health of the tree collection.

The summer holidays have begun – perfect timing, then, for some new equipment in our Treetops Playground! Expect some fun new additions to the play area during the first half of this month (August).

Watering the most diverse plant collection in the Midlands takes many hours in the hot days of August. Watering in the four display glasshouses is done on a daily basis by hosepipe and takes at least two hours. This is done before you arrive to the Gardens at 10am.

Butterfly House

This month, Butterfly House will be stocked with 100 pupae every week. This keeps it full of gorgeous butterflies until the first week of September, when we shut the House for the winter. The Gardens buy these pupae from Stratford Butterfly Farm and carefully glue them the right way up onto bamboo canes in the emerging case. Some adult butterflies only live for two to three weeks, so we have to keep it stocked up with pupae to keep the Butterfly House full. Once emerged, the butterflies feed on nectar of Buddleja, Lantana and tropical Vinca. They also enjoy sugar water from the plastic feeders and the fermented, rotting banana, apple and oranges, where sometimes you see a butterfly that has had too much to drink!

Bedding and deadheading

The Gardens are in full flower and the bedding is coming into its own on the Loudon Terrace and around the Bandstand. Dead heading watering and feeding is being carried out regularly in these areas as well as in the Rose Garden.

The Dahlias on the Loudon Terrace are being disbudded, picked over and tied into the canes and feed on a regular basis by two students from Birmingham Metropolitan College. One of these students has become our new apprentice.

The new plants for the second part of the Herbaceous Border will be arriving in September. So far, the old border has been sprayed out twice, and will probably be sprayed with weed killer once more. Then the bed will be replanted in the autumn. The section replanted last year has come alive over the last few weeks and is looking very floriferous – just what we wanted.

The indoor team are busy filling cells trays with compost ready for our winter bedding plant delivery. 5750 small plug plants will be potted up this month and grown on in the nursery until planting out in late September.

One very important job to be done this month is the choosing of bedding plants and bulbs for the displays next year. Everyone enjoys looking at the glossy brochures as they arrive and deciding what goes where. At the moment we are toying with the idea of an all-white display on the Terrace, with an emphasis on scent. Imagine coming to an evening event, perhaps one of the plays, and seeing ghostly white flowers and catching their beautiful scent as you enter the Gardens?

Cyclamen

Speaking of beautiful, the Cyclamen received a lot of care and attention last month when all the plants were repotted into larger clay pots in new compost with a lot of extra grit added. They will be coming into growth this month. Watch out for them in the Alpine House and in the Glasshouse by the Butterfly House.

Weeds, weeds, weeds

After the rain and heat of July the weeds are growing prolifically and weeding is virtually non-stop. Our volunteers are performing heroically giving up their time helping us rid the Gardens of these nasty weeds. We will also be making time to cut more hedges, in particular the beech and mixed hedges.

Jur-grassic Kingdom!

We have received five tonnes of topsoil that will be spread in the remaining holes caused by the dinosaurs at Jurassic Kingdom earlier this year. This will be firmed down and then reseeded. It’s not really the right time of the year to sow grass seed, but some will germinate if there is rain, and we can over sow in September.

 

July is always a busy month at the Gardens, but it’s also one of the most enjoyable!

This July, we will be cutting our lawns a little less than normal as they recover from the 35,000 visitors we had for the Jurassic Kingdom. We are busy filling in ruts with topsoil so that the mowers can work efficiently again. We have put down some grass seed, but unless we have a lot of rain, we don’t really expect the seed to grow. We will overseed the areas in the autumn.

The weeds that were under control are now back in force, and all our staff will be busy hoeing them down, and letting the sun shrivel them up, the second section of the herbaceous border will be sprayed out again, ready for replanting. The 2000 plants have been ordered ready for the autumn. We also intend putting up information about the plants in the section that was redone last winter.

We have recently ordered 1000 new labels for plants in the garden and these will be going out ASAP.

Our baskets and urns around the gardens are being watered every day and feed once a week with a liquid feed high in potash, potash is formed from the element potassium (symbol K) and this will keep them flowering as long as dead flower heads are removed regularly. If the plant goes to seed its job is done and it stops flowering

There are some helichrysum and lavenders around the gardens that have become woody and need replacing, so we will be taking semi – ripe wood cuttings, cuttings that are turning woody at the base but still soft at the tip (the growing point or meristem). Cuttings should not be longer than 4’’ to 6’’, cut non flowering wood with a sharp pair of secateurs just below a leaf node (the place where the leaf joins the stem) and remove the tip, it is likely to wilt if left on. If the shrub has large leaves reduce by 50% to reduce water loss. Fill a pot with free draining compost; insert the cuttings in pre made holes around the circumference. Cuttings placed to the edge seem to root quicker and easier, perhaps better air exchange and drainage. Water well and allow pot to drain, place a polythene bag over the pot, and stand in a warm area out of the sun. Turn the polythene bag inside out at intervals, to regulate the moisture content and avoid excess moisture. Once rooted, harden off and re-pot when large enough to handle easily new plants are large enough to handle.

The dahlia collection is now on the Loudon Terrace and is being watered and feed very regularly as dahlias are greedy feeders. The salvias that have taken over the dahlia patch in the Trials Garden are coming to life, plenty of flowers and vibrant colours.

And, the day the perfume can be noticed on the Main Lawn. The species roses that were planted earlier this year have settled down and are putting on growth. We are trying species roses to the rear of the Lawn Aviary, hoping they can cope with the shade, as they are more robust roses than some of the floribundas.

The glasshouse team will be busy this month keeping the glasshouses tidy and the Butterfly House in tip-top condition in time for the summer holidays. They will also be putting out hundreds of new labels on the indoor plants so that all visitors can quickly identify their favourites! The plant propagation of indoor plants from seeds and cuttings will continue in the nursery throughout the summer, helping to stock the glasshouses with new plants for next year.

June is the time for roses and all things sweetly scented.

Our new additions to the rose garden are putting on growth, you can actually see them grow. Last year’s replacements have bulked up tremendously and will be full of flowers over the coming month. We are keeping a vigilant eye on them and combating disease and pests as soon as they are seen, before they take hold. This includes feeding on a regular basis to keep them healthy and growing and spraying with fungicide as soon as necessary.

The Rhododendron Walk is particularly colourful at the moment, with so many in flower. There is, also, an abundance of primulas in a glorious shade of pink. This has self-set itself wherever it is damp enough.

We are keeping a watchful eye on our lilies looking out for the bright red lily beetle. These beetles can decimate a whole bed of lilies in a few days. The most successful method of control is checking the plants every couple of days and removing any beetles by hand, and squashing them. Watch out for the piles of lily beetle pooh in which they lay their eggs. So far, our lilies on the Wilson Walk are looking good.

The Herbaceous Border is bludgeoning with new growth, we gave the ‘Chelsea Chop’ ( the cut back plants flower slightly later and at a shorter height) to half the phlox and are now waiting to see the results. The catalpa to the rear of the bed was stooled (cut back to within 12 inches from the ground). This encourages new vigorous growth from the base and much larger leaves. The new growth is already showing a deep red, and will form an interesting back drop to part of the border. The new section is now completely replanted with the silver stream of Artemesia running through it.   Plans are well in hand for the larger section and it has been sprayed a second time with herbicide.

The gunneras in the Bog Garden are putting on a huge amount of growth; you will soon be able to walk under them. Whilst you are in the Bog Garden you might notice the new work being carried out to create an area to grow carnivorous plants outside. If you are interested in carnivorous plants see our excellent blog on them.

The Alpine Yard is full of colour and the display in the Alpine House is changing daily.

The bedding plants have all been planted and they will need regular watering, feeding and dead heading. The car park is looking particularly zingy with the yellow/green artemsia, pink argyranthemums and the deep red salvias.

We have still to plant out the dahlias on the Terrace, but rest assured they will be very colourful later in the year, as will the salvias that have taken their place in the Grass Garden.

And, apart from all this we will be busy weeding and mowing as often as we can.

The indoor team will be propagating new plants for the display glasshouses in our plant nursery. Seeds will be sown and cuttings will be taken of many rare and unusual plants, many kindly given to us from various botanical gardens via index seminum or ‘seed lists’. This helps us to replace or reinvigorate old plants and to consistently better our plant collection with new plants, which is already the most diverse in the Midlands. Our popular Pelargonium (‘geranium’) collection in the Mediterranean House will also be propagated from cuttings. This ensures that every plant can be replaced every year and keeps the display looking fresh.

 Come and see!

May is a busy time of year at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, but it is also one of the most beautiful!

 

During May, the indoor team will be busy getting the Butterfly House prepared for its opening on Saturday 27th May. Buddleja, Lantana and Pentas are just a few nectar plants, which will be grown to provide nectar for the butterflies. Sugar water feeders, and saucers of fermenting fruit such as bananas, apple and oranges are also a delicious food source. Every week, 100 pupae will be delivered from Stratford Butterfly Farm and carefully glued the right way up onto bamboo canes in the emerging case. These pupae contain beautiful tropical butterflies from the Philippines and Central America. If you are lucky, you may see one or two emerge! As usual, the Butterfly House will be open daily until Sunday 3rd September.

 

 

In the Mediterranean House, the 21 metre floral display will be changed to its colourful summer display of canna, begonia, nemesia, petunia, impatiens and torenia, where they will flower non-stop until October. Watering will be a big daily job in the glasshouses and nursery now the weather is warmer, as every plant is checked daily and watered by hand using hoses and watering cans. Not only does this include over a thousand different plants in the display glasshouses, but also over 5,000 summer bedding plants grown on in our nursery before being planted outside at the end of May.

 

The Herbaceous Border section that was replanted last autumn is coming to life and filling up amazingly, just as the second portion is being weed killed in readiness for replanting either in the autumn or next year depending on the weed growth. We were wondering about giving some of the groups the ‘Chelsea chop’ to delay their flowering and reduce their height.

 

Elsewhere in the Gardens, we have an amazing display of over 2000 tulips on the Loudon Terrace that are a mixture of four different colours.

 

The Alpine House is looking great. New plants are put in there almost daily as so much is coming into flower. The vents and doors are open all the time to allow fresh air to circulate and the fan helps to keep the air moving, which improves the growing conditions and recreates the natural environment. The blinds are essential, to stop the leaves scorching and help keep the temperature down.

 

 

The National Cyclamen collection is dying down and becoming dormant as the leaves die and the tubers rest below ground. The seedpods are very interesting – the flower stalk (the pedicel) curls up on itself like a spring and brings the seedpod down to the ground, where the pod ripens and eventually dehisces (splits open), releasing the seeds. The seeds are then dispersed, surprisingly, by ants, which enjoy the sugary coating as a reward for spreading the seeds.

 

Unbelievably, different species of Cyclamen coil their pedicels in different ways, either from the top down, bottom up or from the middle in both directions.

 

The covers around the tree ferns in the Fern Walk will soon be removed. We try to do this before the fronds start to unfurl. The fronds unfurl and open out like a Bishops crosier. This type of unwinding where ever part uncurls in order is known as ‘circinate vernation’ a wonderful phrase that has stayed with me for over thirty years. This tight curling protects the new growing tips of the fern frond.

 

Coming up in the Gardens…

 

Hanging baskets have been created holding Acalypha ‘Pendula Mini Red’ and Calibrachoa ‘Cabaret Hot Pink’. Plugs of Geraniums, Salvias, Argyranthemums and Artemesia, have been potted up and grown on in the Nursery ready for planting out towards the end of May, when the last chance of frosts has gone.

 

Our wildflower meadow has been sown, so we are looking forward to seeing how that develops by the Treetops Playground. We’re also nearly ready to refresh the Herb Garden, which has been a little empty over winter as the annual herbs die off. The Rhododendron Walk and Azalea Walk are winding up to put on an amazing show of colour and scent.

 

Finally, towards the end of May/beginning of June, we’ll have giant dinosaurs across the Gardens! If you’re a member of the Gardens, you don’t need a ticket to this unique event, which begins on Saturday, May 20 and ends on Sunday, June 4.

 

Spring has sprung

March is set to be a time of clearing up for us here at the Gardens! We were very lucky that the only tree that fell down in storm Doris was in the staff car park, but there is an awful lot of brash in the grounds that will need removing. There is one path that will be closed for a while as there are some hanging branches high in the canopy that the tree surgeons will have to deal with.

While the storm was raging we were taking wind speed measurements at regular intervals – the maximum wind speed registered was 40.2 miles per hour.

We have turned our compost heaps and have some lovely rich compost to spread in the grounds and we will be putting a general purpose fertiliser on the soil first and then spreading a good layer of compost. This will give our shrub beds and hedges a boost for the spring.

As the bulbs are flowering, we will be sprinkling high potash fertiliser on the bulb areas. This will enhance their flowering both this season and help them bulk up for next year. We will not be cutting down the daffodil foliage until it has turned brown and died; again this sends nutrients back to the bulb for next year’s flowers.

There is still some cutting back of summer flowering shrubs to be done, but we have cut back most of the willow and the birds in the aviaries are enjoying the fresh branches. The wisteria is looking the tidiest it has in years, great care has been taken in pruning, reshaping and retying, we expect great things when it flowers.

The overcrowded Grass Garden beds have been weeded and overgrown clumps of Kniphofia ‘Tetbury Torch’ have been split as well as the Geum ‘Cooky’ two great plants with brilliant orange flowers for summer. The newly created drains in the same area have also been finished and the beds replanted with moisture loving plants that include Rodgersia ‘Bronze Peacock’, Ligularia japonica and L. dentata ‘Othello’, Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’and astilbes.

Newly planted shrubs will be checked that they are still firm in the ground so that their roots can forge their way down. We will also be checking that stakes and ties are still needed and adequate for a new year’s growth.

Areas that were prepared for grass seeding after the Magical Lantern festival will be seeded; other areas that were aerated to allow water through have started to grow back, so no problems there.

Start getting geared up for seed sowing, don’t be tempted to start too early as you may end up trying to hold them back before they can be pricked out or planted. If you want to try sowing outside try warming up the soil by covering with fleece before sowing.

Gardening Jobs

Jobs in the nursery during early spring include potting on the Matthiola incana ‘Aida Mixed’ or “stocks”. These will be used to give a sweet, spicy, warm scent to the Mediterranean House in April. Daffodils grown on in pots in cold frames over the winter will now be brought into the cool greenhouse. Green garden canes and string will be used to stake the tall flowers to stop them from falling over. These will also be used in the 21m long floral display in the Mediterranean House during March. Now that the first batch of pruned Tropical trees are growing back well in the Tropical House, the remaining trees such as cocoa, rubber tree and Ficus benghalensis can be pruned to bring in welcome sunlight.

 

Here in the Gardens, we are busy tidying up for the coming growing season. As the hours of daylight increase, so do the list of jobs that the gardeners have to perform!

This month, it’s all about pruning, cutting and stooling…

‘Stooling’ is the process of hard-pruning to encourage sturdy, colourful growth. With this in mind, it’s time for us to stool our Salix that has been growing in the Salix bed (right next to the Growing Schools Garden). We have left them alone for a couple of years to put on some growth and show their true colours, but now is the time to stool them.

We will be busy pruning back to about 600mm off the ground the summer flowering Buddleias, which we may even do again later in the summer to bring the flowers even closer to the ground and create a more compact plant.

The Wisteria on the Pavilion wall will be pruned so that all of the nutrient flowing up the plant will be concentrated in three buds as opposed to the six buds left for the winter.  This should encourage a wonderful display of scented flowers in late spring, which is definitely something to watch out for on your next visit. We will also be checking supports to ensure that they are strong enough to hold growth for the rest of the year.

Ornamental grasses will be cut back and any other herbaceous plants that were left for winter interest.

It’s not advisable to begin cutting back any spring flowering shrubs until they have definitely finished flowering. We will also leave pruning our roses until the chances of frost are over – you never can be too careful, even in February.

During February the glasshouse team will be busy improving the interpretation labels on the educational plants. The labels are a great way of teaching our visitors the importance of plants with fun and interesting facts. Most of these are plants that we use in everyday life for food, shelter, medicine, fuel, clothing, leisure and religious reasons. Plants such as tea, coffee and chocolate, bamboo, cotton and indigo and bananas, oranges and lemons are just a few. In fact, there around 200 in total! 

The citrus in the Mediterranean House will be re-potted into terracotta pots of fresh compost to give them a kick-start at the beginning of the growing season. The compost will consist of ericaceous compost for acid loving plants with plenty of perlite added for drainage. Perlite is obsidian rock heated to 900C when it expands and shatters into white gritty particles. It is added to compost to aid drainage and is much lighter to grit, so is a good choice for larger pots.

If the weather is not too cold and wet our outdoor team shall be carrying on with the soil preparation for grass seeding in the spring.  We will also be applying any remaining mulch that we have on to beds that require it, that is beds that did not perhaps receive any last year.  And, beds that are not receiving any mulch will be lightly worked so that water and air move into the soil easily.  This will have to be done carefully to avoid the myriad bulbs that are just showing.

At the moment we are trying to drain a particularly wet area of the Grass Garden, our very muddy gardeners are hoping for a little dry weather to complete this job so that they can restock the bed with plants we bought in the autumn.  We have decided that in the wettest area we will try and plant some Butomus umbellatus, a pretty rush like marginal plant that will cope with standing in up to 250mm of muddy water.  It has an umbrella like clump of pink, fragrant flowers in late summer, and grows to about 1.5m tall.

What to watch out for at Birmingham Botanical Gardens

Wandering around the Garden this morning I was delighted to see snowdrops in flower that we planted last year, as well as, cyclamen, aconites, daphnes and prunus in flower.  This is in addition to the viburnums and hamamelis that were flowering in January.  Behind the Lawn Aviary we planted some early flowering narcissi Narcissus ‘Tamara’, and they are proving to be early as the stems are now about 150mm tall, far taller than the other narcissi in the beds.

So, come to the Gardens and enjoy a much needed lifting of the spirits as spring is just around the corner. There will also be half term fun from 20-24 February.

Happy New Year from the gardeners at Birmingham Botanical Gardens!

Now that Christmas is over, we will start to see what needs doing as the Magical Lantern display is removed. The Festival was a new venture for us, so we really have no idea what the grounds will look like once the displays have been dismantled!

As much of a big job as it may seem now, we wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve already aerated some of the lawn by plunging a garden fork into the ground repeatedly at close quarters to allow water and air back into the sod. This will hopefully help the grass recover – if not we will be reseeding later in the year, but no long-lasting damage to worry about.

During January, the indoor team will be busy doing the annual pruning of the canopy in the Tropical House. We do this for several reasons:

1. Removing the growth produced during last spring in summer gives us more light during the winter for the plants (bearing in mind they are used to having 12 hours of daylight every day of the year in the wild!).
2. It also helps with heating bills, as the sun can warm the glasshouse by solar gain.
3. It removes dead growth and leaves from the autumn and makes the glasshouse look tidier.
4. It encourages new flowering growth for next spring and summer.
5. It enables people to walk through the glasshouse with ease.

If you’re planning your visit to the Gardens in January, you’re in for a real treat. Snowdrops should be starting to flower, and the viburnums, lonicera and hamamelis will be covering the Gardens with beautiful colour and scent. Some of the scents are quite subtle, unless you get really close – so be brave and put your nose right in amongst the flowers – there’s no danger of being stung by a bee at this time of year!

If your New Year’s resolution is to spend more time in the garden but you don’t know where to start, we’ve come up with a few of our top jobs for January:

January Gardening Tips

Time to pot your Christmas Amaryllis

If you have received any Hippeastrum (Amaryllis) for Christmas, now is the time to pot them up. It is better to soak them in tepid water for 24 hours before potting in a compost consisting of John Innes No.2, leaf mould and silver sand in equal parts. This is a porous mix and is important for good root development. When putting the compost mix in the pot, place it in a cone shape and sit the bulb on top and spread the roots outwards and downwards. This technique will ensure that once you have added compost on top of the roots, about half of the bulb is exposed to prevent rotting. Warm compost and roots (18C / 64F) initiates growth, so a place on a mantelpiece or coffee table is ideal. Once the flower buds have appeared, move to a sunny windowsill and water occasionally with tepid water.

Cut off your hellebore leaves

If you haven’t cut them off already, do so now so that the new flowers will be seen and reduce the chance of getting black spot. It is also the time to cut back any vines you may have, before the sap starts rising – as cutting back when the sap is rising can have devastating effects.

Apply compost

If the weather is mild we will be applying homemade compost to our shrub beds and borders. This will protect the soil from freezing, add nutrients back into the soil that may have been leached out over the winter and helps keep down weeds. We will also be checking our winter protection around our precious plants.

Protect your prize plants!

Forgotten to protect something important? If the weather is not freezing you can still put horticultural fleece or bubble wrap around and over the shrubs. Pots can be moved closer to walls and grouped together to gain protection. The whole group can then be fleeced or bubble wrapped. Don’t pack too closely or densely as water needs to drain out, you don’t want to create conditions were the plants can become mouldy. If the weather is freezing you would be wise not to cover the plant as you would be trapping the frost in the insulating material, wait for a thaw before doing anything.

And if you think it’s too late…

If you think you may have lost a plant to the cold, don’t be in a rush to cut it back or take it out. Plants can be very resilient and it may grow back from buds further down the stem – just wait and see. If the plant does reshoot, cut the dead off back to the new growth when there is no chance of any more frosts. Some plants can take the best part of a year to show signs of growth.

Check your tree stakes

If you’ve planted any shrubs or trees in the autumn, now would be a good time to check that tree stakes and ties are still doing their job and that the soil has not heaved in the frost. If the soil has moved carefully re-compact it with the heel of your foot.

Remember: snow can put an unnecessary strain on your shrubs

And finally, if it snows make a point of going around your shrubs, trees and hedges, knocking the snow off so that the weight does not damage the plant. A layer of snow on flowerbeds and borders is however a good thing as it is a perfect insulator keeping your soil slightly warmer than the air.

 

That’s it from us this month. Next month, we’ll be looking at how to care for your garden throughout February.