Summer survivors

THE first Saturday of a new year and the garden still clings to the vestiges of last summer. Several plants continue to bloom way past their time, while a few spring-flowering specimens have come into flower early, which is very disconcerting.

The hangers-on include white-flowered marguerites, three plants crammed into a pot and blooming away despite the time of year.

Cold weather has usually seen these tender plants off well before Christmas, but they have taken advantage of the lack of frost and continue to bud and blossom as much as they can.

A yellow-flowered species hasn't fared as well, despite being in a sunnier and more sheltered position than its white relative. It definitely looks worse for wear and needs to be disposed of when I do a January tidy up.

A more surprising daisy survivor of the winter thus far is the lovely Felicia amelloides Variegata, a tender perennial that originates from South Africa.

I have grown this plant for years, but have always had to renew the stock each spring. I am very fond of its cream-edged leaves and wonderful warm blue-petalled, yellow-centred flowers. It reminds me of my honeymoon when we bought a tray of plants at a garage to fill pots given as a wedding present.

Felicia amelloides Variegata was among them, although I didn't know its name at the time, and I have tried to include it in my summer scheme each year since.

Another plant benefiting from the mild conditions is the tender bedding plant nemesia, which sits on a wooden box attached to the house wall and just below the boiler outlet.

The temperature must be warm there, at least during the day when the heating is on and the hot water is being used. The plant has managed to continue to grow and flower here since last July. Neither plant has managed to produce the lush greenery and abundant flowers one would expect to see in summer, but it is still good to see their sparse winter offerings.

At the other end of the calendar, early bloomers include a pale yellow-flowered primula. It was spotted nestling among the dead stems of a michaelmas daisy some time before Christmas, and was still holding on to a few tattered blooms a couple of weeks later. There are new buds coming through but the birds have already had a good peck at the petals of the open flowers.

We never seem to be able to keep primulas looking neat and I always feel envious of the even mounds of blooms in other people's gardens.

At the front of a bed in semi shade is a low-growing campanula that can be a pest if allowed to roam at will, but which is useful for filling gaps and remaining evergreen unless the weather is especially cold.

Like the primula, it is blooming several months early and has produced a flowering stem carrying a few of its star shaped violet blue flowers.

Despite the strange flowering times in the garden at the moment, there are other more expected seasonal things happening.

Aquilegias, for example, are beginning to push new growth through the soil, their tightly curled leaves breaking through and gradually opening out on lengthening stems.

The ones I have here are seedlings that appeared last year. They will be in their second season this spring and, with luck, will be ready to flower.

The blooms will be a surprise, I have no idea what colour they will be; but as I like almost the entire breed, it hardly matters.

Euphorbias are also busy. Humpty Dumpty, martinii and wulfenii are all evergreen and produce a good crop of stems covered in soft leaves that are ideal for winter interest and colour in the garden.

At this time of year, the top of each stem produces a bud that will eventually open out into the startling lime green flowers this species is known for.

Wulfenii will be first, one stem is almost open already, with the other two following later. These are tough plants. I thought we had lost wulfenii a couple of years ago when it had to be pruned back after outgrowing its space.

Weekend catch-up

TIE in wayward stems of Clematis armandii. Fat buds are already forming ready to come into flower in February or March, so make time to get the stems fastened to trellis or wires. A sunny wall will bring the blooms out earlier but they will still open in shadier conditions.

Gardening TV and radio

Sunday, January 7
8am, Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors.

9am, Radio Leeds, Gardening: with Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Chris Beardshaw and chairman Peter Gibbs look at the most frequently asked questions. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.25pm.

Friday, January 12
8pm, BBC2, A New Year At Kew. Alan Titchmarsh narrates the second programme in a ten-part series which includes the difficult task of repotting the largest corm in the world.

8.30pm, BBC2, Grow Your Own Veg. Carol Klein embarks on a wild parsnip search while at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate the cultivators are getting to grips with their patch.