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The Fernwood Almanac

February in the garden in the Fernwood Almanac, Ludlow, Shropshire

The month the year turns. Snowdrops go in green, the pruning window on wisteria and dogwood closes, and the first seed can be sown under cover.

PlateSnowdrops under the beeches, February
In flower

In the nursery and in a garden within about ten miles of Ludlow.

What is out in February

  • Snowdrop Galanthus nivalisAt its peak. Buy and split them now, in leaf, not as dry bulbs.
  • Hellebore Helleborus x hybridusCut the old leaves away so you can see the flowers at all.
  • Dwarf iris Iris reticulataSix inches tall and the best blue of the whole year.
  • Crocus Crocus tommasinianusThe one that actually naturalises in grass.
  • Daphne Daphne bholuaExpensive, slow, and worth it. Scent from twenty feet.
  • Winter honeysuckle Lonicera fragrantissimaUnremarkable shrub, remarkable smell.
Planting calendar

Written for the Marches, where the last frost is usually the middle of May and the first is usually the end of October.

Jobs for February

Prune

  • Wisteria: this winter's cut takes last summer's shortened growth back to two or three buds.
  • Cornus and coloured willow, hard, to the base. You lose the stems you have been enjoying and get better ones.
  • Late-flowering clematis (group three) down to a foot. Be braver than feels right.

Sow

  • Broad beans under a cloche, or in pots in the cold frame.
  • Sweet peas in root trainers if you did not sow in autumn.
  • Chillies and aubergines on a windowsill. They need the long run-up.

Divide

  • Snowdrops, in the green, straight after flowering. Split the clump, replant at the same depth, water in.

Prepare

  • Chit early potatoes in a cool light room, eyes upward, in egg boxes.
On the benches

What we have in during February

  • Snowdrops in the green
  • Seed potatoes, all varieties
  • Onion and shallot sets
  • Summer-flowering bulbs
  • Bare-root fruit, last of the season

Stock turns over with the calendar. If you are after something specific, ring on 01584 555 0234 before you drive over and we will walk out and look.

From the nursery

A note on this month

Snowdrops sold as dry bulbs in autumn mostly do not come up. Buy them like this, in leaf, with the roots wet, and plant them the same afternoon. That is the whole trick and it is why we only sell them in February.

Ellie Fern, Head of nursery
What's on

Annual fixtures, so the dates move by a day or two but the months do not.

Around this time of year