Braving the outdoors
Although it has really been much too wet to garden outside I have ventured out now and then and actually did some replanting last week. It was confined to moving some comfrey and some Trachystemon orientale from other areas to under the apple trees.
Some people would shudder at the idea of actually spreading trachystemon; it is a vigorous ground cover. But I have moved both plants to the rows of apple trees. I keep the soil under them free of grass and it takes too much time to weed the area really so I have planted comfrey on the south side of each tree and trachystemon on the north side. Comfrey is a plant I like not just because the deep roots are reputed to pull up nutrients, so I can cut off the foliage and lay it under the trees to feed them but the flowers are loved by bees. So it is win-win! It is important to choose a comfrey that does not set seed. ‘Bocking 14’ is the best known by organic gardeners but I have lots of ‘Moorland Heather’ which I have divided over the years and it is also sterile. I left my ‘Bocking 14’ behind so have ordered that and ‘Bocking 4’ to add some variety, and for comparison.
Trachystemon is a great ground cover for shade, with weed-suppressing large, rough, heart-shaped leaves. In spring (now) it produces masses of spiral, blue and white flowers that are adored by bumblebees – on warm days. The plan is that it will not only smother weeds and keep the soil covered with vegetation but that it and the comfrey will attract bees that then might visit my apple blossom!
A few reliable old plants bring joy. Chaenomeles are making a small impact on the garden – I only have two in the garden so far – and ‘Geisha Girl’, one of my favourites, is starting to make a show.
Most of the magnolias are showing no sign of flower, nor the camellias, but ‘Leonard Messel’ is covered in pink blossom.
And salix ‘Mt Aso’ is just coming to an end, the pretty pink catkins expanding and being ‘spoiled’ as the yellow stamens emerge.
Some plants are not so carefree. Several years ago I bought a Beschorneria yuccoides ‘Flamingo Glow’. The straight species is a regular feature of Irish gardens, especially in the west and the striking leaves and amazing flower spikes make it really desirable. ‘Flamingo Glow’ is a glorious variegated form that is pretty common now in nurseries. It is one of those plants that I worried about and did to dare plant out because it is not very hardy. So it was repotted and sulked in a pot that was put in the polytunnel every winter and rather neglected. Perhaps because I got fed up with tripping over it, in exasperation I planted it out last autumn in the most protected (though not from wind) spot I have, and it did not like the -6c we had in January. But I noticed some ‘flamingo pink’ this week and I see it is going to produce a flower stem. My excitement is balanced by trepidation because it means this shoot will die once it has bloomed and so far there is no sign of any offshoots to make the plant perennial. We will see.
In a very different (wet) part of the garden Petasites japonicus ‘Giganteus’ is flowering. This is not a plant for small gardens and it is usually reliably invasive. So far it has behaved impeccably and only slowly spread. It has room to roam but has not yet taken advantage of the opportunity. The flower clusters always get frosted at the tips but the ‘cauliflower-like’ flowerhead are still attractive. When the leaves emerge they get munched by snails, which may be a clue to its limited growth.
The Biking Gardener 
We don’t/haven’t had the same cold snaps here that you mention. We had thin ice on the pond on one or two occasions but, generally, it has been a mild winter. Like you, it has been a dreadfully wet one and the ground is pure squelch to walk on still and every spell of rain simply adds to it, leading to lodged ground water immediately as there is absolutely soakage at present. I’ve managed a little work in the garden from footpaths and have pruned a bed of hydrangeas and a few others scattered around the garden. I find the contrast between the plants which are performing – magnolias, camellias, daffodils etc and the dreadful conditions very odd.