“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold; when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
After a dry January and February, we’ve thankfully had a very wet March, and we’ve even had a good blanket of snow. Daytime temperatures have ranged from 0C up to 15C.
In the woodland garden, the hellebores have been putting on a good show this month. They look particularly nice next to the red leaves of Bergenias. Cardamine quinquefolia, also known as the five-leaved cuckoo flower, is a spreading herbaceous perennial that produces masses of violet coloured flowers in the spring and then disappears by the summer. I find it very useful to provide interest early in the season in areas where hostas will grow later in the year.
March is the month for catkins – furry catkins of Salix Kilmarnock, purple catkins on Corylus avellana Red Majestic, a contorted purple hazelnut, yellow catkins on Corylus avellana Contorta.
The wildlife had been very active in the pond. Unfortunately we had a heron visit on 20 March and there have been no signs of any fish or frogs since.
We experienced heavy snow in the second week of March but it had disappeared by the weekend and the flowers soon recovered.
The bees have been appreciating the flowers of Pulmonaria. Pulmonaria, whose common name of lungwort never sounds very appealing to me, love the fernery area by the main path – this small area is the wettest part of the garden. I initially planted three different varieties and they have self-seeded themselves nicely around the area. As well as the flowers to appreciate this month there is also the promise of things to come with the leaves of Erythronium (dog’s tooth violet) and Hemerocallis (daylilies) showing good growth.
In the last week of March I had a visit from a pair of red-legged partridges. They breed naturally in southwestern Europe and have become naturalised in flat areas of England and Wales where they were introduced as a game species in the 18th century.
The trees and shrubs in the raised beds by the new gazebo are beginning to come into leaf. Euphorbia martini has looked impressive all winter and the bulbs that I planted in the autumn are now starting to flower, such as the Iris reticulata Harmony.
