WHAT'S LOOKING GOOD IN FEBRUARY 2021

I have that too but just assumed it was the birds.

 

I'd say self-sown snowdrops. Once I've got my teeth in IME, bulbs work their way down, corms work their way up. Could you pot up the little ones to grow on for your charity sale next year?

 

Rainy day blues ...

Clerodendrum ugandense ...



Salvia farinacea ...



All the green on the gravel and behind the trellis in the rockery is Oxalis pes-caprae, a noxious invasive weed here just starting to bloom. It is everywhere, quite pretty, some with double blooms. Not worth pulling it up, best to wait till it dies down then pull.



Net photo ...

 

I forgot one from yesterday ...

Bilbergia nutans (Queen's Tears) ... I have them everywhere, three troughs in the garden walls, this is on the Front of House Patio ...

 

A couple more ...

We have Pink Peppers ... Schinus molle / Peruvian Peppertree / Pink Peppertree ...



First Freesias ... at the base of the Pepper Tree ...

 

Wonderful ... bet they smell gorgeous....♡♡♡

 

They do Jenny. The dark ones are the strongest. Normally the yellow open first. Tomorrow we will pick the first bunch for the kitchen, always do.

Have a peaceful weekend and keep warm. Vxx

 

I have lots of Bilbergia nutans @Victoria, I can see buds on one of yours, I think the're fascinating. Mine flower in the late winter.
I love the smell of Freesias but can never grow them.

 

Scilla mischtschenkoana

 

Michael, I could never grow them in Bucks and was amazed when my friend in Thame (Oxon) a couple of miles from us grew Freesias on her balcony. Then I tried them here ... and they seed themselves all over the place and we love it!

 

@Michael Hewett I've grown Freesias both in Essex and here in Devon, I grow them as a spring flowering bulb, plant them in a free draining compost in big pots in autumn, leave them outside until frosts are imminent or very wet weather is prevalent and then stick them in a cold greenhouse, keep on the dry side, water and feed from time to time. Main pest is greenfly, they do need sticks and string to keep upright. Flower around Easter after flowering move pots outside and let tops die down, take bulbs out of compost, sort through and then keep in a box in the shed, where they get a good hot summer bake, until autumn.
The only year they didn't flower was after a cool damp summer when they missed a good bake. I have grown from seed and bulb. I have bought bulbs to flower in summer and had no success at all; although the bulbs did sprout in autumn.

 

Just to add, a few weeks in the airing cupboard ripens the bulbs off nicely.

 

@Michael Hewett They grow well outside in S.W Wales! My mum had a huge pot of them by her front door that was slightly sheltered so they stayed drier. She did nothing to them except water when it got really dry - no food, soil from garden so basically sand. They flowered and spread every year except when I dug some up and they took a year off in protest at the disturbance. I am now trying to get them to the same stage in my garden. If my bulbs from my mum do well for me, I can pass some on for you to try.