I should be clear, this is not my favourite time of the year. The seasons have definitely turned and with the clocks changing, I rise and finish work in the dark. It’s getting chillier and I refuse to have the heating on until my fingertips turn a kind of greyish colour (a nice fire is better anyway).
My mood – like my garden – feels worn out and bedraggled and generally un fun. One antidote – apart from a fire and the cosy hot water bottle of a Scottish terrier on my lap – is a bit of retail therapy: like a quick trawl through the end of the bulb sales for some cheery tulips at bargain prices.
Or I’ll take advantage of bare-root season (typically November to February) to add more roses to the borders. You can usually find a much wider range available as they are often lifted and despatched fresh from the field (rather than vying for limited space on a nursery display bench). They are usually better value for money and they take better too.
Don’t be disappointed when they arrive. They won’t look like much: twiggy, cut back and with damp muddiness around (bare) roots, but with a bit of a soak and planted quickly, they’ll take advantage of any milder spells to get their roots down and will be ready to suck up nutrients and burst into growth as soon as they sense spring.
As I’m giving a light prune to taller and more vigorous roses to prevent damage by windrock, I’ll take hardwood cuttings this month. They don’t always succeed as a lot of roses are grafted on onto the roots of stronger plants, but it’s very satisfying when the magic does happen.
Look for fairly recent growth that hasn’t flowered and is about the thickness of a pencil. Cut straight across just below the point where a leaf meets the stem (called a node), then – about 15cms further up (about the length of your secateurs) – cut diagonally just above a leaf node. The diagonal cut doesn’t really do anything to help rooting, it just reminds you which is the top of the cutting, so you don’t plant it upside down (upside-down cuttings definitely won’t grow).
Put the cuttings around the edge of a deep plant pot – you can dip them in some hormone rooting powder or gel if you like, but it’s not essential – making sure to leave enough space at the bottom of the pot for the cuttings to grow roots. Find an out of the way spot and leave them to get on with it. Check on them every month or so, especially if it hasn’t rained, so they don’t dry out but don’t expect to see much action until later in spring when you’ll hope to see some signs of fresh growth. I usually leave mine untouched for 18 months or so, pulling out any that die and keeping the pots watered through summer until I’m ready to pot each cutting on individually.
As well as roses, plenty of shrubs can be propagated this way; try Cornus, Euonymus, Hydrangea and Salix as well as fruit bushes.
With dahlias done and frost blackening the foliage, they’re cut back, their tubers lifted, and I fill the gaps they leave with tulips. I bury the bulbs good and deep – deeper bulbs mean stronger stems apparently – and I can then drop dahlias in on top of them come the start of summer as the tulip foliage dies back.
I take pleasure in anything still blooming right now and there’s still some colour in places.
A few sheltered spots shine with shockingly pink trumpets of Salvia microphylla ‘Cerro Potosí’ or the sumptuous, glowing purple Salvia x Jamensis ‘Nachtvlinder’. These shrubby salvias tend to be hardier than some of their cousins and mine usually make it through the winter. Don’t cut them back until spring and their shrubbiness will give some frost protection to the delicate crown at ground level.
Chrysanthemums are also a slatwart at this time of year. Maybe you’re growing the bigger bloomed varieties under glass, but hardy spray types are giving it their all in my borders. I have an unidentified small-flowered pink variety that looks amazing and clumps up rapidly to put on a great display every year.
Whatever is still flowering in your gardens, do try and get out to enjoy it before everything gives up for winter and we pack in the gardening in favour or fires, heating and a toasty Scottie or two.
Dedham Horticultural Society 