March in the garden
After such a cold winter most spring flowers are later than usual, with some
daffodils still in bud. Our hellebores are continuing to bloom much later than
normal, but the ornamental daisies (Bellis) in our bedding schemes are giving
a welcome splash of colour.
Some winter damage is now evident on evergreens, but most will quickly
recover, Many evergreens provide extra interest and colour and are really
important structurally in the garden. Viburnum tinus is an excellent evergreen
for winter and spring interest, in fact, we find it flowers intermittently all year
round, producing clusters of white flowers which are pink in bud, and
sometimes metallic blue berries too.
Now is the time we cut down our willow and dogwoods (cornus), so they
produce more young stems for next winter’s display. We grow golden, purple
and orange stemmed willows and Red, bright green and black dogwoods.
These colourful stems are used by the floristry team in the hotel as decoration,
and some are used in the garden too. They all are easy plants which provide
interest throughout the year.