Spring is around the corner - honestly!
Sally Newbrook from RHS Rosemoor suggests seasonal gardening projects
It is deep winter. In an ideal world, crisp frosty mornings and clear blue skies are breaking through the darkness but in reality, wet and cold weather may be testing your commitment. However, it won’t be long before tufts of snowdrops and Crocusremind us that spring is on its way.
Last October here at Rosemoor we planted 2,000 Crocuscorms in the grass under the large oak tree leading down to the lake. These will soon be emerging, a small variety named Crocus tommasinianus‘Barr’s Purple’ with vivid orange stamens was chosen for its early flowering time. Nearby snowdrops Galanthus ‘S. Arnott’ AGM release their sweet honey fragrance, a delicate singled-flowered type donated to us by a regular visitor who gardens on Dartmoor. In the winter garden plantings of willow, dogwood and white-stemmed bramble grab your attention with their radiant stem colour, often looking best in groups of at least three. Two of my favourites are Cornus alba‘Kesselringii’ with its deep purple/black stems and Salixalba‘Golden Ness’ AGM for its luminous architectural quality.
While the garden sleeps we take the opportunity to prepare for the exciting year ahead. Here are a variety of seasonal jobs you may want to consider:
Rose pruning
One of our biggest jobs at Rosemoor is pruning the huge variety of roses within the formal garden. Late winter is the ideal time to prune shrub and bush (hybrid T and floribunda) roses just before new growth kicks off. Pruning helps keep them tidy, healthy and flowering well. The aim is to create an open structure that reduces crossing branches and allows light in and increased movement of air.
General pruning rules:
- Keep your secateurs sharp so that you can get a clean cut rather than crushing the stem.
- Remove all dead, diseased and damaged material to a point where the stems look healthy.
- If a rose is very crowded remove a small amount of old stems at their base.
- Make your cuts 5mm above a bud and cut at an angle sloping away from the bud to prevent water collecting on it.
- Cut to a bud facing out from the centre of the plant so that the new shoots create a nice rounded shape rather than growing inwards getting tangled together.
- Dispose of material rather than incorporating it into your compost and disinfect secateurs regularly to reduce the spread of fungal spores that cause black spot and mildew.
Of course every rose looks different and they rarely play by the rules but to put it simply:
- Hybrid T’swith their characteristically large flowers can be pruned the hardest to 15cm from the base leaving a framework of just 3 or 4 stems, ideally choosing the youngest and healthiest.
- Floribundas need more of a framework to support their clusters of flowers so prune to around 25-30cm.
- The term shrub rose represents a huge number of different rose types and each may require a slightly different approach. Generally speaking, they need framework of old branches to support the new flowering growth so tread carefully, shortening growth by a third at most.
If you’re unsure as to which variety you’ve got the RHS website has some good advice on how to proceed.
Maintenance
Now that trees have dropped their leaves and herbaceous plants have died back you can get a much clearer idea of what is going on in the garden. Check stakes and climbing plant supports for damage so that you can do repairs while plants are dormant.
Planting trees and shrubs
It’s a good time to plant trees and shrubs especially those sold bare rooted. Planting in the dormant period gives them optimum time to get roots established before growing shoots put more of a demand on the plant, just make sure the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Roses can be ordered online and buying in this way may give you more options if you are looking for specific varieties.
Mulching
Late February is a good time to get a weed smothering mulch down providing soil is not frozen or saturated. We use a variety of mulches here including a fine shredded spruce bark, our own compost and a heavier bark on larger areas but it really depends what you can get hold of and how much it costs. If using any of your own compost or manure it’s important to make sure it’s well-rotted so as not to burn stems and leaves of emerging plants.