This month we’re focusing on preparing the grounds for spring, planting new climbers and carrying out some essential pruning in our much-loved gardens.

In February everything starts to come alive, with winter flowering shrubs adding colour and scent around the pathways and countless Hamamelis, Viburnum and Sarcococca springing into life. Visitors may even be lucky enough to see a peppering of snowdrops, having been planted around the gardens over the last few years. Emblematic of spring, these delights are often the first sign of warmer weather ahead. In addition to this, hellebores and winter aconites will be putting on a show under the glowing stems of dogwoods and willows. Evidently, the winter border will be looking at its best, with a variety of flowers and plants brightening it up and welcoming spring to the gardens.

The Alpine house will soon be full of colour too, with many potted bulbs starting to burst through and blooming in bright colours. Crocus, Iris and snowdrops will provide a backdrop for a number of Cyclamen that will be blossoming soon. On the subject of Cyclamen, the Cyclamen society will be having its winter show at the gardens on Sunday 4th February; you can find more information here.

Credit: Josh Tranter, Horticulture Apprentice

Moving through the gardens, you’ll be able to see that a number of hedges are still being cut and pruned. After a number of years, some of our hedges become large and wild – by reducing their height it allows them to be maintained much more easily. This is not the ideal time of year to be cutting hedges this drastically, but the outside team can spare the time to carry out large tasks like this in winter months.

We are also working on repairing worn grass areas after parts were slightly damaged after the Christmas lighting event. Hopefully, if the weather will allow and we do not get too much rain or snow, we can use fresh topsoil to level the ground in preparation for over seeding and, in some areas, laying new turf. To prevent weed growth we will also be adding our own homebrewed compost, also helping to conserve water and prevent the ground drying out in the summer months.

In the glasshouses, the team will be busy improving the interpretation labels on the educational plants in the Subtropical House. The labels are a great way of teaching visitors about the importance of plants, using fun and interesting facts. Most of our plants are used in the production of many household and commonly used items such as tea, bamboo and cotton.

Moreover, the Mediterranean House will have an extra four different coloured Bougainvillea vines planted in it, creating a rainbow of colour. In addition to the Bougainvillea ‘San Diego Red’, there will be B. ‘Alexandra’ (purple), B. ‘Orange King’, B. ‘Golden Tango’ (golden-yellow) and B. ‘White Cascade’. Although not currently at their best, they will be big, bright and bold come April time.

Become a Member

If you enjoy visiting the gardens, why not become a member today. Members make a vital contribution to the gardens and their support means that our staff can continue their work and keep the gardens growing for years to come.

Not only will you receive free unlimited entry to The Birmingham Botanical Gardens, you also gain free entry to many other celebrated gardens across the UK. Please visit our Membership page to find out more.

Happy New Year to you all, we are all looking forward to the next twelve months.

Firstly, we have to wait for the removal of the light trail, we hope you all managed to see the display, the Fire Garden was awesome.

When the display is out the gardeners will be aerating grass areas, and turning over trodden on soil in the beds to help alleviate compaction, which is bad news for root growth.  Obviously, this is very weather dependent, too wet or frozen you can cause more harm than good.

Once the compacted soil in the beds has been turned over, our homemade compost will be spread, not so much to add nutrient as to add organic matter.  This will help improve soil structure, hopefully encouraging worms and improve drainage.

Tree ties will be checked for space for the next year’s growth, tree labels will be loosened again to give growing space.  If the tree is thriving any tree stakes will be removed, allowing the tree to form its own anchoring roots and encouraging it to stand by itself.  Tree stakes left supporting trees for too long can stop trees developing correctly, they become dependent on the stakes and never develop basal flare which helps them to sway in the wind, not stand rigid.

All winter protection will be examined and made good if necessary.  The snow of December caused some damage to our conifers, the golden conifer to the rear of the Lawn Aviary has lost two large lower boughs and various other conifers have opened up as the weight of the snow has brought the branches down.  If you are quick and knock the snow off, the branches will sometimes bounce back, no harm done.  But, sometimes the branches stay bent.  Snow on shrub beds can be a good thing though as it can act as an insulator, protecting some plants.

If you come to the Gardens, watch out for flowering shrubs, at this time of the year many are scenting the air, especially on still, sunny days.  Our viburnums, lonicera and hamamelis are all strutting their stuff, luckily many are planted by paths so you can see them easily.

It is also great to see new growth, our snowdrops, early daffodils and winter aconites are showing growth, and it is not too late to cut the leaves off your hellebores before the flowers are hidden by them.

We will also be taking a good look at some of our borders.  The grasses in the Grass Garden need splitting and moving away from the paths and some of the plants in the sub-tropical borders on the Terrace need pruning, decisions need to be made.

So make the most of the fine winter weather and see you around.

We are delighted to announce that James Wong will be our guest speaker at this year’s Trustees’ Charity Ball.  James is as equally excited about speaking at our Dinner as we are welcoming him.  James is a Kew-trained botanist, writer and broadcaster. Graduating with a master of science degree in Ethnobotany in 2006, he has pursued his key research interests of underutilised crop species & traditional food systems through field work in rural Ecuador, Java & Southern China.

He is the author of the best-selling books ‘Grow Your Own Drugs’ and ‘Homegrown Revolution’, as well as a presenter of programmes including BBC2’s award-winning ‘Grow Your Own Drugs’ & ‘Countryfile’ and Radio 4’s “Gardeners Question Time‘.

Becoming an RHS ambassador in 2014, James is passionate about communicating plant science to new audiences in relevant and accessible ways. With his obsession for food nearly eclipsing his love of plants, James’ small London garden serves as a testing station for all manner of crops and horticultural ideas from around the world.

We have a new band this year, the Subterraneans who have acted as support bands for Hazel O’Connor, T’Pau, Toya Wilcox and David Bowie (Live Aid) and play regularly at the Jam House and Glastonbury. They will be a perfect support band for James.

The Charity Ball takes place on 30th September and although this may appear a long way away we are encouraging people to ‘Save the Date’ and reserve a table.  Tables are £750 and reservations can be made by emailing Marie Purcell.  This promises to be a truly remarkable evening and what better way to have fun whilst raising funds for our beloved Gardens.