Gardener's Calendar

February Gardening Advice

February can still bring extremes of weather, but with longer hours of daylight and spells of bright winter sunshine, there comes a realisation that Spring is just around the corner. The late winter garden can be so inspiring, with hellebores, witch hazels, snowdrops, and cyclamen in flower, and everywhere, there are signs of renewed life.

This is the perfect month for selecting and purchasing new hellebores. Try to find room for a few more Helleborus x hybridus ‘Ashwood Garden Hybrids’ as there have been so many recent developments in our breeding programme, and there really are some gorgeous colours and forms now available. Hellebores can’t be beaten for providing flower colour in winter and early Spring, especially when combined with snowdrops and cyclamen. If you haven’t done it already, carefully remove the old foliage from established Helleborus x hybridus plants.

Plenty of jobs can now be carried out for the flower, fruit and vegetable garden, from seed-sowing and planting summer bulbs to preparing the ground for spring planting. Remember to continue to feed the wild birds in your garden with seeds, dried mealworms, etc. and provide them with fresh drinking water. Soon, they will be nesting, so set up nesting boxes in suitable places with entrances out of the wind and sun.