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February is the month when I fall back in love with gardening. Not that I am ever really out of love with it, but my gardening is more of the armchair type through the dull, dreary days of winter.
This is important too, perusing the garden books and magazines for new design ideas and planting inspiration to plan ahead for the new season. From around Valentine’s Day onward, it seems that every day is a little brighter and longer, and one can’t help but feel the pull to get out in the garden.
Ongoing is the cleanup after storm Éowyn which generated so much debris. We have several fallen trees to remove and garden fence panels to repair or replace but thankfully, the damage we had was nothing compared to the devastation to our garden after storm Ophelia back in 2017.
Given the increase in extreme weather events, I’m looking forward to going along to the upcoming annual seminar of the Garden and Landscape Designers’ Association on Saturday, 22 February (more information at glda.ie).
The theme this year is ‘Building Resilient Landscapes for a Changing Climate’. From the impressive lineup of Irish and international speakers, I am hoping to learn more about how we can practically adapt our gardens to ensure they are able to bounce back and recover quickly from the extremes of a changing and increasingly unpredictable climate.
In the meantime, the main job of the month is to begin cutting back all the perennials and ornamental grasses in the flower borders. We work methodically through the garden, using shears and secateurs to cut out all the dead material from the base of the plants, taking care not to damage any emerging new growth.
After the chop, the borders look a bit spartan, except for glimpses of colour from early-flowering bulbs and hellebores, but it is amazing how much the new growth will accelerate over the next few weeks.
On the advice of an experienced galanthophile (snowdrop enthusiast), over the coming weeks, I will apply a liquid seaweed feed to our snowdrops and hellebores as soon as their flowers begin to fade. This will help boost their vigour and energy stores for next year’s display.
Pruning clematis
February is also our month for pruning roses, clematis, coloured-stem dogwoods, and late-flowering shrubs, such as Hydrangea paniculata and buddleias, that flower on the growth they will make over the coming months.
Clematis pruning is something that often confuses people. They need regular pruning to encourage strong growth and flowering, and to prevent them becoming a tangled mass of stems. Most important is knowing when the plant flowers.
Clematis are divided into three flowering groups which determine their pruning requirements. Group 1 are those which flower early, up to late May. It includes Clematis montana, C. alpina, C. armandii, and C. macropetala. These produce flowers on growth made the previous summer. If you prune now, you will be cutting off all flower buds so wait until flowering has finished and prune in June.
Group 2 clematis are mid-season flowering, from late May to early July. These include popular varieties, such as ‘Niobe’, ‘Nelly Moser’ and ‘The President’, which tend to have less vigorous growth and much larger flowers. These often flower twice, first on growth produced the previous year and again on new growth. If you prune hard at this time of year you will not have any early, large flowers but plenty in late summer.
With this group, the best approach is to remove all dead, weak or damaged stems now, and prune lightly to shape the plant if necessary, following your way down from the top of each stem until you reach a healthy bud and pruning just above the top pair of healthy buds. Deadheading immediately after flowering back to a bud below the spent flower may encourage further blooms.
Group 3 comprises the late-flowering clematis that flower after mid-June. This group includes Clematis viticella and varieties such as ‘Jackmanii’, ‘Gypsy Queen’, ‘Hagley Hybrid’, ‘Perle d’Azur’ and ‘Ville de Lyon’.
They all flower on growth made in the current year so all the previous year’s growth should be cleared away now. I cut down all stems to about 60 cm from the ground, leaving at least two healthy pairs of buds.
You may find that bright green buds and shoots are already forming among the dead, brown foliage. If some of these are removed by pruning, don’t worry, as the plant will grow back stronger.
My Mahonia shrub has become very tall and leggy with sparse, long branches. Can I prune it to make the growth more bushy? - Cian, Co Galway
When flowering has finished, in late spring, leggy stems of Mahonia x media cultivars can be cut to within 30 cm of the base or main stem to stimulate growth from dormant buds and encourage branching and flowering lower down. In subsequent years, prune down one third of the branches annually to prevent the shrub from becoming bare.
You can also cut some of the longer branches by 30-50% of their lengths to make the shrub more compact and to stimulate side shoots on the branches.
However, if the shrub is not overgrown or unkempt, not crowding other plants, or does not have bare, dead stems then you do not need to prune it.
Plants and trees: Bare-rooted trees, roses and hedging plants should ideally be finished planting by the end of the month to give them some time to settle and begin producing new roots before coming into leaf.
Growth: Towards the end of the month, pot on rooted cuttings of tender plants, such as fuchsias and salvias, taken at the end of last summer. After a few weeks, pinch out the tips to encourage bushy growth.
Check ties: Check tree ties and stakes and remove, tighten or slacken them where necessary. Firm back newly planted trees and shrubs if they have been lifted by frost heave or strong winds.
SHARING OPTIONS: