The beauty of plants never ceases to amaze me.
In the vegetable garden continue to plant winter spinach, spring cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, silverbeet, lettuce, celery, leeks, onions and kale. Sow seeds of broad beans, lettuce, onions, early carrot varieties, parsnips and radishes.
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In the ornamental garden plant snapdragons, aquilegia, calendula, carnation, cineraria, foxglove, Iceland poppy, pansy, polyanthus, stock and viola.
Plant bulbs of anemone, freesias, hyacinths, ixia, lachenalia, muscari, narcissus, ranunculus, scilla, sparaxis, tritonia and watsonia. Plant pips of lily of the valley.
Rhubarb revival
Rhubarb is a herbaceous perennial with the edible portion of the plant being the large, tender leaf stalks. The leaves of this member of the dock family contain oxalic acid so must not be eaten.
Rhubarb grows best in a fertile, well-drained sandy loam. Before planting new crowns, the bed should ideally be deeply dug and have liberal amounts of compost incorporated into it.
Well-cared-for plants will last three to four years, after this it’s best to lift and divide them into smaller pieces and replant into a fresh position in the garden.
Rhubarb can be grown from seed collected from your plants, but the resulting seedlings may not come true to type so it’s probably best to plant crowns of a known cultivar.
Choose crowns that have at least two large buds and take care not to let them dry out before planting
To propagate, divide crowns in early spring, before any new growth appears, taking as many roots as possible with each division.
Keep rhubarb plants free of weeds as they harbour pests that can cause damage to the stalks.
There are many new varieties available now including ones with thin, bright red, sweet stalks that are a great improvement on the older, tart types.
Bare beauty
Deciduous trees may be bare all winter but they are by no means ugly, in fact, their bareness can be their beauty.
Have you noticed how the winter limbs of a birch tree creates a beautiful silhouette against the grey evening sky or how the bare, spreading branches of a Japanese maple catches your eye with its beautiful lines? The beauty of plants never ceases to amaze me.
Calendula cheers
The bright colours of calendula add a cheerful presence to the garden, especially in winter. New varieties come in cream, peach, apricot, yellow and orange. Sometimes known as pot marigolds, these undemanding plants are easy to grow and thrive in full sun with light, well-drained soil.