February can be a rather miserable month in the garden; whilst there are signs of hope of things to come, a plant that really ‘does its thing’ at this time of year is extremely welcome, and Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ is just that.
Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’
Daphne bholua is a species of shrub from Nepal, where it grows in the Himalayas and other mountain ranges to a height of 3,500 metres. There are a number of named varieties but by far the most freely available is ‘Jacqueline Postill’. This may be because it was bred by Alan Postill, a ‘Master Propagator and Plant Breeder’ at Hilliers, who named it for his wife, and was presumably distributed by them.
It is a slender, medium sized shrub reaching to about 2.5m in height, which is described as ‘semi-evergreen’. In the milder winters that we are now experiencing, I find it reliably evergreen which, if as happened mid-January this year, there is a heavy downfall of snow, the branches can be weighed down, causing the stems to splay out if the snow is not removed soon enough.
Flowers appear as deep pink buds, opening to pale pink/white flowers which emit a lovely perfume. If, as we sometimes do, we get a ‘balmy’ February day, the scent can be appreciated throughout the garden, but even on not so good days, at closer quarters, the fragrance is lovely.
The only downside I have found with the shrub is that it can sucker quite freely. I have lifted several and potted them up, but to date they have not grown much. Andy McIndoe recommends severing the root from the parent plant and leaving to develop its own root system before lifting the new plant, but I am never patient enough, which probably explains why mine do not flourish.
Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’ holds the Award of Garden Merit and is, in my mind, a very worthwhile plant in any garden.
Sue Gray
Picture courtesy of the HPS Image Library
P.S. This plant has been the subject of a previous Plant of the Month blog by Jane Orton – if you would like to see it, click here
I missed the First of January Picture show, obviously not brave enough to face the cold of New Year’s Day, unlike so many of our enthusiastic, fearless members. Having picked a more amenable day, here are my offerings.
This combination of Yew, Phormium cookianum subsp. hookeri ‘Cream Delight’, Hebe and Elaeagnus pungens ‘Maculata’ is a pleasant structural combination in Winter (fig 1).
Fig. 1 Yew, Elaeagnus pungens ‘Maculata’, Phormium and Hebe
In Christopher Lloyd’s book ‘The ‘Well Chosen Garden’ the latter was described as having the inelegant habit of side shoots that grow at every sort of awkward angle from its main branches. Perhaps that’s why it seems to have been replaced with new varieties such as Elaeagnus x submacrophylla ‘Gilt Edge’ and ‘Limelight’, but I like it.
Fig. 2 Front border Jan 2021
Repetition of the Phormium in Fig 2 adds further winter interest.
Fig. 3 Helleborus argutifolius ‘Silver Lace’
Fig 3 is Helleborus argutifolius ‘Silver Lace’.
Fig. 4 Phyllostachys nigra
Fig 4 is Phyllostachys nigra which I think is looking good but does need the stems clearing again.
Fig. 5 Polystichum polybretharum
Fig. 5 is Polystichum polyblepharum, one of my favourite evergreen ferns.
Fig. 6 Photinia serratifolia ‘Pink Crispy’
Fig. 6 is Photinia serratifolia ‘Pink Crispy’
Fig. 7 Equisetum hyemale
Fig 7 is Equisetum hyemale. I am including this plant because I like it as an architectural feature but not its habit of sprouting lots of small offshoots from the tips and sides of the stems. Last year I had a large pot bound specimen which I thought of discarding but instead I divided it and potted up a couple of divisions.Some time later I cut the potted plants down to the ground and the picture shows the resulting new growth. I am pleased with this result and now wished I had saved a third specimen.
Fig. 8 Ilex aquifolium ‘Golden Queen’
Fig. 8. This is the stem of a large standard Ilex aquifolium ‘Golden Queen’ which I planted as a shrub over 25 years ago. I trained it as a standard to add height and to indicate the extremity of the garden. I really like the new cream shoots that have appeared near the base of the trunk, presumably due to lack of light – a bonus.
Fig. 9 Underplanted conifer
Fig 9 I underplanted the conifer Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Plumosa Aurea Nana’ with Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’ since it is tough and tolerates shade. It has survived amongst the roots of the conifer where other plants have failed. It is accompanied by Chiastophyllum oppositifolium ‘Jim’s Pride’.
To celebrate the passing of that most unloved of years, 2020, Sue Gray suggested that weshould start off the new year by going and out and seeing what was looking good in our gardens.
I’m delighted to say that over twenty members were able to find some flowers or foliage worthy of inclusion, so here they are. I’ve arranged them in first name order
Weather: Very coldand cloudy with lying snow for many of us. A slight thaw during New Year’s Day itself gave bold photographers a chance to find some blooms peeping through the icy blanket.Lucky we chose the 1st January, because the 2nd brought lots more snow!
Alan Wilson leads the way
The Garden in winter
Frozen pond
Helleborus torquatus
Helleborus seedling
Helleborus foetidus
Helleborus atrorubens never fails to be out for Christmas
Greenhouse under the blanket
Aeoniums originating mainly from holidays in the Isles of Scilly
A snowdrop (no name) usually out around Christmas
Sedum takesimense ‘Atlantis’ – Chelsea Plant of the Year 2019
Amanda Fincham comes next – she says, “All un-named I’m afraid as they were already in the garden when I got here.”
The Hamamelis is always spectacular with wonderful scent. It was flowering before Xmas and gets earlier every year
Hesperantha
Hellebore
Ann Fritchley was a regular contributor to the Lockdown Gallery. She says, “I said only about 10 days ago I listed 20 plants flowering, like the new Snowdrops, Hellebores, and one Ipheon flower, or things hanging on like the Hesperantha and Campanula, Chrysanthemum, Erysimum, Primulas, etc. A bit of sunshine would have brightened them up”.It looks like there’s still something to see there though – including some hardy wildlife!
A grouping of plants to add a bit of colour outside the door
Hamamelis mollis which isn’t fully out and at its best
Liripe muscari, hanging on and refusing to give in, unlike most other things
and this wood mouse clearly isn’t bothered by the snow!
The Hackett garden is more like a ski slope with trees this week, but some pictures were taken without injury either to the plants or me
This pink has flowered continually through autumn
Rosa ‘Kew Gardens’ bleached by the frost
Nice blue Primula – last one left of patch
Woodwardia unigemmata – the walking fern
Angelica sylvestris ‘Vicar’s Mead’ – a skeletal reminder of its summer glory
Snowdrops – of course
Hydrangea quercifolia
Euphorbia x pasteurii
Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae wearing a stylish oak leaf stole
Dryopteris affinis ‘Cristata’ – the scaly male fern
× Fatshedera lizei – the tree ivy, about to flower. Good for any winter insect daft enough to venture out
Lamium galeobdolon – Yellow Archangel – undeterred by anything
Carine Carson’s new garden is beginning to take shape
Hesperantha coccinea
Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’
Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golf Ball’
Denise Dyson was keen to take part in the New Year’s Day project. She said it’s all part of making the best of a difficult situation. Hear, hear.
Primula ‘Strong Beer’
Helleborus × hybridus ‘Harvington Red’
Hardy Geranium ‘Bill Wallace’ and Erigeron karvinskianus
Prunus × subhirtella ‘Autumnalis Rosea’
Euphorbia
Clematis urophylla – The clematis has had a severe cutback, including important stems, by our neighbour so we are going to try to resurrect what’s left with some new trellis on our side.
Azalea
Diane Rawnsley has a Pheasant Berry that’s still looking splendid
Leycesteria formosa ‘Golden Lanterns’
Glenda Wray says she doesn’t understand how her camera works – I beg to differ!
Hamamelis mollis var. pallida, with a nicely budding ‘Leonard Messel’ magnolia behind
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ above Vancouveria chrysantha
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ above box, cyclamen and Vancouveria chrysantha
Garrya elliptica close-up
Garrya elliptica and Abies koreana
A white hebe which flowers all year round, against a background of Silsden Moor towards Wharfedale, tops still snow-covered
A view from our drive across the fields to Silsden Moor and Wharfedale, with part of the outer wall of our walled garden to the side.
Jenny Williamson has sent in some winter vignettes. She says “Have not been suffering long from White Fever but think it has set in now!”
Olearia x scilloniensis
Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’
Cyclamen coum, new plant last February
Fernery, begun in 2018
Collection of snowdrops, kept in a cold greenhouse. Grand total of 23, all repotted in September
Double snowdrop. just coming out, ‘Richard Ayres’.
Jill Lister has plenty to show in her garden but also wants to give an honorable mention to Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ (not included) – it continues to flower prolifically, but the photo’s not great!
Skimmia ‘Rubella’
Liriope muscari
Helleborus argutifolius
Hellebore – self seeded
Hamamelis cultivar
Erica carnea ‘Myretoun Ruby’
Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’
Aconites
Judith Edmonds comments “Thankfully less frozen today or I would have been risking life & limb to go out and take photos!“
Cornus Sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’
Hesperantha coccinea ‘Mrs Hegarty’
Judith Ladley says there’s nothing in flower in her garden, but these two excellent pot more than make up for it, I think!
Judith’s pot 1
Judith’s pot 2
And Kate van Heel was in a similar frame of mind – she says “A dismal day for photos but I’ve tried!“
Asplenium scolopendrium ‘Golden Queen’
Edgeworthia chrysantha with developing flower buds
Exciting to see the flower buds on Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’
Polystichum setiferum ‘Pulcherrimum Bevis’ with a euphorbia growing in front
Lesley Woledge’s winter piece de resistance is a superb Melianthus which has come into its own after unpromising beginnings
Melianthus major acquired in a tiny, miserable pot on a HPS holiday 3 or 4 years ago. After sulking I replanted it and during ‘lock down’ it surpassed itself and took over the whole bed and even flowered. It wasn’t very happy in the frost but seems to have recovered today.
Phormium tenax – New Zealand flax
Primrose
Last time I saw Liz Hall’s gardenwas in midsummer and we were enjoying a heatwave. Nice to see that it still offers treasures in chilly midwinter
Scabiosa nitens. I grew it from HPS seed
Helleborus foetidus
Maggie Sugden loves Hellebores. even when they don’t behave…
Hellebore – This is called Magic Yellow but it isn’t
Helleborus niger
Margaret Frosztega comments “Together with the odds and ends that the frost has hit a bit, I was surprised how much was looking ok. This has been an exercise to do regularly in future!”
Nandina with Heuchera ‘Carnival’ in foreground
Cyclamen coum
Hesperantha major
Hebe that has travelled as a cutting from house to house. It never knows when to flower
Heather that was here when I moved in
Euphorbia again here when I arrived
Hesperantha coccinea ‘Mrs Hegarty’
Helleborus foetidus
Hesperantha coccinea ‘Viscountess Byng’
Nigel Lees sent us these views “from our garden in Leeds, taken on a rather gloomy New Year’s Day….“
Pat Gore says “I have tried to rise to the challenge of garden photos despite lots emerging. but little in bloom in my garden!”
Salix alba var. vitellina ‘Britzensis’
Clematis armandii
Cyclamen coum
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Ferner Osten’
Looks like there’s plenty going on in Pat Hunter’s winter garden
Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’
Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’
Clematis cirrhosa ‘Jingle Bells’
Clematis cirrhosa ‘Freckles’
Chrysanthemum ‘Dulwich Pink’
Chrysanthemum ‘Burnt Orange’
Skimmia japonica ‘Rubella’
Hepatica nobilis ‘Alabaster’
Helleborus sternii
Helleborus ‘Harvington double white’
Hellebore foetidus
A warm welcome on a chilly day to Rena Guttridge with her first gallery picture
Helleborus ‘HGC Maestro’ flowering its head off as it does every year
And it’s a first time welcome for Ruth Baumberg too, with what she describes as her ‘tatty’ plants, following the cold snap
Coronilla
Doorstep Geranium
Helleborus hybridus
Helleborus foetidus
Hesperantha coccinea
Galanthus nivalis ‘Acton Piggott no 3’
Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’
Christmas roses past their best
Frosted primula
Our final photographic contribution comes from the person who inspired the New Year’s Day Gallery – our Chair Person, Sue Gray. Great idea.
A new area created in a very shady spot, largely planted with ferns and epimediums ‘rescued’ from David Barnes’ garden
Emerging Hellebore hybrid and Arum italicum foliage
Epimedium rubrum not looking quite as splendid as yesterday when it was rimed with frost
Galanthus elwesii Always my earliest flowering snowdrop, thanks to a very generous HPS friend
Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Livia’ started flowering in December. I am advised that it should be planted where the low, winter sun can light up
Helleborus ‘Anna’s Red’ which I suspect is only flowering this early as it is a new acquisition from a garden centre
The foliage of blue Camassias has been showing since November. The white ones, being slightly later flowering, have more sense!
The noses of the Sanguinaria canadensis have been poking through since early December, which I have never seen before
Not everyone is comfortable with a camera, so I’m delighted that two members opted to send in their NYD plant lists.