February in the Garden

Bullfinches (pyrrhula pyrrhula) return to the garden in February and, although timid half 
the year, are now fearless and persevering. The bullfinches’ usual habitat is woodlands, hedgerows and orchards, where they will feed voraciously on the flower buds of fruit trees in spring. In spite of their bright beauty and sad and mournful call, fruit farmers still see a flock of bullfinches appear with some trepidation.

 Photo RSPB

One of the most popular February-flowering shrubs is Daphne Mezereum. Stiff, upright stems are clothed with purplish-red flowers in February and March. The variety Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata’ grows to 4ft x 5ft, has evergreen leaves prettily edged with a thin gold margin and smells divine, hence its full name. The starry flowers are followed by poisonous berries. Beware! The harsh winter here in Shropshire has caused the leaves to turn slightly dryish-brown, but the plant will soon recover when the days are warmer.

Another early flowerer is Lonicera fragrantissima; it has fragrant creamy-white flowers throughout winter, often on bare stems. This Lonicera is a variety of shrubby honeysuckle; I have planted mine in a slightly sheltered spot by the back door. On sunny days the gorgeous smell meets me every time I leave the house.

The Plant Directory UK

If you have a large space, then Hamamelis, the Witch Hazel, is the shrub you want at this time of year. The showy, spidery flowers appear on the leafless branches for many weeks in winter and the sweet fragrance is a bonus; you can cut a branch or two and bring them indoors. Although rather unexciting in summer, in autumn the leaves take on attractive tints. Mine grows in a space under trees, in summer I can use the shrub as a backdrop for hostas and ferns.

Annette Hoeggemeier

Ruhr Universitaet Bochum

The one harbinger of spring that no garden should be without, is the humble snowdrop. Ubiquitous they may be, easy to grow, and slow to die;  but I would no more wish to be without them at this time of year than I would wish to forego the birds and the bees. There has a clump of them growing somewhere in my garden since Christmas and this particular spot of snowdrops amongst the leaves of heuchera is my favourite.

For those of you who are still in the merciless grip of deep winter, here is a bit of advice:

Avoid travelling by Night in Snowy Weather.

For she was all froze in with frost

Eight days and nights, poor soul

But when they gave her up for lost

They found her down the hole.

On this day in 1799 a passing farmer, noticing a handkerchief hanging on a bush, rescued Elizabeth Woodcock of Impington in Cambridgeshire from the snow hole in which she had taken refuge from a blizzard on the night of February the second. Drifting snow had subsequently covered her to a depth of six feet, and she had become too weak to climb out. During her confinement her only sustenance was two pinches of snuff.  (Snuff = tobacco for sniffing).

Walk fast in snow

In frost walk slow

When frost and snow are both together

Sit by the fire and save shoe leather.

anonymous