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The Fernwood Almanac

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

The quietest month in the garden and the busiest on paper. Prune while you can see the shape of things, and get the bare-root order in before the good stock goes.

PlateHellebores in the winter border, January
In flower

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

What is out in January

  • Snowdrop Galanthus nivalisOut under the beeches from the second week, earlier in a mild year.
  • Winter aconite Eranthis hyemalisYellow, low, and worth a hundred of them rather than ten.
  • Witch hazel Hamamelis mollisScent carries thirty feet on a still cold morning.
  • Christmas box Sarcococca confusaPlain green until you walk past it. Plant it by a door.
  • Winter jasmine Jasminum nudiflorumFlowers on bare wood, so give it a wall you look at.
  • Dogwood stems Cornus sanguineaNot a flower, but the best colour in the garden this month.
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 January

Prune

  • Apple and pear, while dormant and the framework is visible. Open the centre, take out crossing wood, and stop at a quarter of the canopy.
  • Nothing that flowers on old wood. If you are not sure what that means, leave it and ask us.

Plant

  • Bare-root trees, hedging and roses, any day the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged.
  • Rhubarb crowns. Force one under a bucket now for stems in March.

Check

  • Tree ties and stakes after the winter gales.
  • Stored dahlia tubers for rot. One soft tuber will take the box.

Plan

  • Order seed now. Everything interesting sells out by the end of February.
On the benches

What we have in during January

  • Bare-root hedging (hawthorn, beech, hornbeam)
  • Bare-root roses
  • Hellebores in bud
  • Seed potatoes for chitting
  • Bird food and feeders

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

People apologise for coming in during January as though the place is shut. It is the best month to buy a tree: bare-root stock is a third of the price of the same plant in a pot in May, it establishes faster, and you get first pick of the shapes.

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