Anna Taylor, owner of Anna’s flower farm in Audley End, shares what’s going on in the garden this month
If any month needed a PR spin job, it’s dark, cold February. But the end of winter is the gardener’s friend for planting shrubs and trees for great growth this year.
Bare root and root-balled specimens are rarely found in a local garden centre, but traditionally, shrubs, trees and even perennials were dug up in the autumn when dormant, transferred to sand beds and bought over winter. These field-grown plants are more reliably moved, cheaper to grow and buy. But once spring comes, days lengthen and temperatures rise, growth is stimulated and plants are less likely to recover so well from the relocation. So the end of bare root season is not a fixed date, but determined by that particular spring.
I’m a big fan of gardening in this way – going by the weather and local conditions. You will usually need to look at small, dedicated nurseries for supply or large, wholesale commercial ones for very mature Chelsea ‘instant’ plants. Use the RHS plant finder tool on its website and you’ll be introduced to a host of suppliers and goodies you didn’t know existed. A bit of faith is needed to buy blind, but these suppliers know what they’re doing. Your deliveries will be far more reliable and sustainable. Right now, I am increasing my shrub stock and buying cotinus, physocarpus, cornus and currants.
Bare root plants should be ‘heeled’ in: stuffed in the soil, usually at an angle so you don’t dig a big hole, and pressed gently with your heel. They can stay there until early March before being planted in their final position. Root-balled plants are usually evergreen. These are much cheaper bought like this, though must be planted as soon as possible on delivery. Don’t let them dry out and plant with the hessian left around the root, holding the soil together.
Why, with the fewest plants flowering naturally in gardens, is Valentine’s Day, the feast of depressing flower deliveries, smack bang in the middle of February? Cynically, we know it’s a global drive to drum up sales for imported flowers in the worst commercial month.
There is not a single rose in the UK that naturally flowers in February. Where are they coming from? You might not want to know, but be certain that the bunch of roses is not saying ‘I love you’ in the way you meant it to say. Consider the distance travelled, chemicals used to grow (usually banned for use in the UK and EU) and worker conditions. And the worst offence, scent is bred out of them. A rose with no scent – what will they think of next?
Keep in mind that bare root top tip, and consider a real rose plant thoughtfully delivered to your love? A rose that blooms every year from excellent suppliers like David Austin, Norfolk’s Peter Beales or Hertfordshire’s Harkness Roses.
If you do want to give flowers this Valentine’s, please think about what is growing naturally now – in our climate. Support local flower growers and suppliers. The Flower Project on Mill Road is brilliant – not exclusively local, but Clare is a trailblazer on the high street, with biked deliveries for extra eco-friendliness. Give her enough notice and she’ll be getting in the most exquisite and – most importantly – scented narcissus from Cornwall, tulips, anemone, alstroemeria, iris and even dried dahlias for everlasting love tokens.
Anna teaches and writes about growing and arranging cut flowers. She also sells wedding, event and ready-to-arrange flowers to be collected or delivered from the plots at Anna’s flower farm.
