Dropping by

I DON'T much like gardening in January. It's an effort to go outside in a cold wind, and nothing seems to be growing in the empty beds save for a few sensibly placed evergreens. Then the first snowdrops open and I realise winter is beginning to slow down, while spring is racing to overtake.

Our snowdrops grow in a moist shady bed near the front door, where they have remained undisturbed for a number of years.

They begin to emerge in December as small green shoots that gradually increase in size each with a small white bud that will open a couple of weeks after Christmas.

The flowers last well into February and sometimes even early March, by which time other spring plants such as pulmonaria are big enough to hide the dying leaves.

Snowdrops can spread to cover large areas but they need to be left alone to self-seed and die back naturally, so gardeners irritated by their floppy post flowering foliage will need to have something in the wings to disguise it.

There are many species and varieties of snowdrops, with new ones appearing annually.

The most widely available is Galanthus nivalis, the common snowdrop, which at this time of year can be bought in bloom from garden centres and nurseries. Expect to pay around £3 for a small pot containing half a dozen or so bulbs.

For larger quantities, look for suppliers of snowdrops 'in-the-green' in the classified adverts in the back of gardening magazines. These usually appear from January to March or April.

As they resent any disturbance, snowdrops are best planted fresh in spring when the leaves are still intact and roots have time to recover over spring and summer. They have a poor reputation for flowering from dried bulbs planted in autumn.

Winter aconite is another early flowering plant, which like the snowdrop will naturalise in the right conditions. It is often recommended for planting in moist, fertile soil under deciduous trees where a carpet of bright yellow flowers with a green ruff of bracts in late winter and early spring will eventually form.

The common winter aconite Eranthis hyemalis is easy to grow and will rapidly increase once established, given the right conditions. But its relatives Eranthis cilicica and Eranthis tubergenii are less invasive. They have the usual yellow flowers but with bigger blooms and a bronze tinge to the foliage of E.cilicica.

As a departure from the yellow flowers of most winter aconites Margery Fish in her book A Flower For Every Day describes the Japanese aconite, Eranthis pinnatifolia as having blue backed white blooms and blue anthers. It needs shade and protection from slugs but would, I imagine, look lovely grown with clumps of snowdrops and some small winter-flowering cyclamen.

Plant catalogue

IT WILL soon be time to start sowing seeds. But growing seeds can take space and not everyone gets round to doing the job. If so, Suttons Spring 2005 Plant Catalogue could have the answer.

There is a good range of summer-flowering plants available that are delivered from late April onwards from orders sent by mid March at the latest.

The company offers four sizes of plant: mini-plants, which need to be transplanted and grown on indoors before planting out; easi-plants, a little larger and requiring less time growing on; garden-ready plants, which can be planted out straight away; and pot ready plants, ready to be planted up into containers. These latter plants may need to be hardened off before planting out permanently.

Full growing instructions are included with the plants.

New plants to the catalogue this year include Lantana Tropicana Collection. Usually grown as an annual in this country, this bushy tender perennial will survive if brought into a warm conservatory over winter. The clusters of flowers change colour as they mature, giving a two-tone effect of either orange-hot pink, yellow-orange or yellow-pink. Five pot ready plants cost £7.95, while ten pot ready plants are £11.95.

Begonias, lobelia, petunia and impatiens can all be bought as mini-plants costing £9.99 for 110 plus 20 extra free. This is a good deal but bear in mind that plenty of space indoors or in a conservatory or greenhouse will be needed to pot up and grow them on. For those with less space, 30 garden ready plants cost between £10.95 to £11.95 depending on the species.

For a copy of the Suttons Spring 2005 Plant Catalogue phone 0870 220 2899.

Weekend catch-up

CLEAR the crowns of herbaceous perennials of rotting leaves which can cause deterioration of the plant and also provide a hiding place for slugs and snails who will then start to munch on new shoots as they begin to emerge. Leaves can be left on bare earth to break down or provide a source of food for worms which drag them down into the earth.

Updated: 08:47 Saturday, January 22, 2005