Nodding beauty

The nodding bell-shaped flowers of the snakeshead fritillary have a quiet understated beauty, elegant and graceful while still being showy. They also have a certain liveliness that echoes the excitement of spring. They are usually seen in gardens as a single clump of perhaps a dozen stems but they are at their most impressive when seen in large numbers, naturalised, in much the same way as daffodils in hundreds or thousands are spectacular. Snakeshead fritillaries lend themselves to being grown in this way, and it suits a country garden very well, where space might be available and planting bulbs in this way looks so natural. Also it is easy to maintain and it is not costly.

Snakeshead fritillary likes damp soil with a cool, damp summer. It thrives across Scandanavia, western Russia and south to the Balkans, growing in cool mountain meadows. It is completely hardy and, despite looking delicate, it can easily withstand any Irish winter.

Charming

When this charming flower is well suited as to soil and conditions, it will produce seeds and increase in numbers. It is at home in damp grassy areas, best in the full sunshine, where it will grow bigger, carry two or more flowers per stem and set a greater load of seeds. If the grass is not too strong, so much the better, but the fritillary is surprisingly robust.

The flowers are produced in many shades of purple and pink, and white sorts sometimes appear. The checkerboard markings can be more or less pronounced and they give the flower a pretty appearance. Seen against the light, the patterning stands out more. These fritillaries are available in autumn as bulbs and sometimes sold in spring in pots.

The ideal spot to grow this fritillary is in a stretch of grass close to a stream, as it often appears in Europe in damp meadows that flood for a time in winter when a river overflows its banks.

Just like with daffodils, the grassy sward that contains fritillaries is not cut until the foliage turns yellow and withers, which happens in late June or July. Cutting them before the foliage withers and the seeds are shed reduces the spread of the plants and the show of flowers the following spring. The seedling fritillaries are very like grass and it is not until they grow taller that they are noticed.

The other fritillary grown in gardens is the crown imperial, so called because of its crown of yellow, orange or red flowers. With such bright flowers, at first glance, it is difficult to see the family resemblance, but the nodding flowers are individually very alike those of the snakeshead. Neither could it be more different in its requirements.

While the snakeshead liked damp meadows, the crown imperial quickly rots in heavy damp soil.

The crown imperial tall flower spike can reach to 1.5 metres, though usually less. The flowers are carried in a cluster on a strongly upright straight stem. Each flower is bell-shaped with overlapping petals, usually six or eight flowers in each cluster, which is topped out with a tuft of pointed green leaf-like bracts. The plant grows from a large flattened bulb with a hollow on the top side which has a tendency to hold water in wet soil and the bulbs can rot as a result.

The bulbs are planted in autumn and emerge in spring, growing very rapidly to flower in April or May. The best chance exists when the bulb is deeply planted in a very well-drained spot in full sunshine in good soil. It needs water when flowering and growing but not when dormant.

Removing suckers

Some garden trees and shrubs produce suckers from the roots that can prove to be quite a nuisance. Examples include stagshorn sumach, which is shown, flowering cherries, kerria, clerodendron, robinia, acacia, embothrium, aspen and blackthorn. Suckering is one of the ways some trees and shrubs increase the ground they occupy, claiming territory each time a new sucker pops up. The tree can develop a thicket of its own stems.

Some trees have suckers that pop up as much as 20 metres away as the roots stretch that far and more in light gravelly soil. They can come up in a lawn area, a flower border, even in a driveway. Any that grew last summer will be further boosted by new growth soon unless they are chopped out with a spade and the soil firmed back as tightly as possible to reduce fresh suckering at that point.

Fruit, vegetables and herbs

Cold winds and snow over parts of the country reduced soil temperatures but these can be quickly reversed with some sunny days. Onion sets can be put in now. Potatoes can be planted at any time in good conditions. Control apple and pear scab disease. Remove weeds around fruit bushes.

Flowers

Gladiolus and dahlias can be planted outdoors from the middle of April. Wait a while in the colder, inland parts of the country. Lilies can be potted up for summer flowers. It is too late to sow half-hardy bedding flowers – wait to buy plants in May. Divide and re-plant snowdrops gone out of flower.

Trees, shrubs and roses

Trees and shrubs are flowering on time or a little ahead of season. Evergreens, both broad-leaved and coniferous kinds, can be planted now as the sap begins to rise – they will root quickly but be sure to give a good watering at planting and two weeks later, and in any prolonged dry spell.

Lawn

Lawns had made good growth before the cold snap and those that were mown early are in good shape. Most lawns do not need feeding yet. Use lawn mosskiller if there is heavy moss growth. It is too early for lawn weedkillers. If new areas of lawn are to be sown, wait for good weather.

Greenhouse and house plants

Sow seeds of sweet peppers and chilli peppers in a warm place and move them to the greenhouse when they germinate. If there is a delay, wait and purchase plants. Feed and water heavily all greenhouse plants. Sow sweet corn and runner beans for planting out at the end of May.