WHAT'S LOOKING GOOD IN JANUARY 2018

@JWK It's good to see the sarcococca doing well and it takes virtually no looking after at all.. It's a rewarding plant as it flowers in the winter and the scent is quite powerful. Just one small sprig in a vase can scent a whole room.

@Nigel62 That helleborus looks good . Our doubles are unlikely to be open for at least a month but the singles are trying hard. We have a number of Cornus, different coloured stems, and some of them have excellent variegated leaves. Is yours variegated?

 

@Sheal I don't see why not. It's an H5 hardiness, so is OK down to -15C - and it grows in the Himalayas. There are slightly different varieties and some grow larger than others. I'd send you some cuttings but it's the wrong time of year as they should be semi-ripe cuttings (late summer to early autumn). I seem to remember that the larger growing ones are Sarcococca confusa.

If you're happy to wait until the end of the summer I can send you some (you'd need to remind me) but they're not normally expensive in nurseries if you're in a hurry. One of our local nurseries usually sells quite healthy specimens for about £3 but their prices are always very low. If buying from nurseries just check the variety suits the ultimate size you want.

 

@Sheal That's a good idea. It will save you a couple of years.

Remember that there are two different sizes of plant depending on variety. It all depends on the space you wish to fill.

 

Very true, Sheal. It was a new build House with the typical builders devastation left in the rear garden of timber, bricks, concrete, yards of plastic sheeting, and minimal ranch style fencing. So we started from scratch, filling a couple of skips with the debris. As you know I garden on 300' to 400' of pure sand with an old Roman Sand Quarry only about 50 yards away, so the kids used the whole area as a massive, clean Sand Pit to play in. I'd come home to find a dozen of so of their friends digging up the sand as though they were on the Beach.........it cost me a fortune in Ice Cream.