Ann Mackay: Inspired by Nature

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During the run of frosty mornings this week, I spent a lot of time photographing plants in the garden. While busy in amongst the icy foliage, I looked down by my feet and noticed that even the hellebores appeared to be frozen. I haven’t seen them frosted before because the areas they’re in are usually too well-protected by nearby shrubs. To my fanciful imagination, they look as if they’re all tucked up, sleeping soundly and waiting for warmer weather.

These hellebores manage to be in flower very early in the year and their presence reminds me that winter won’t be here forever…spring will come! As it happens, the flowers appear to have emerged slightly earlier than they have in previous years. (Up until now I’ve seen them in flower here at the start of February. Perhaps the earlier flowering is because the plants are now becoming more established.) It was still less than halfway through January when I photographed them, so there is likely to be more cold weather for them to face.

Freezing temperatures don’t seem to bother these tough little plants, despite their glamorous appearance. I’m grateful for their resilience. It would be wonderful if all the rest of the plants in the garden could be relied upon to come through winter so well. (But I can only blame myself for the less hardy plants chosen for here. And what would life be without the excitement of a little bit of risk…?)

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Frost gives me good opportunities for garden photography in winter, but it’s generally not good news for the flowers in my pictures. The rose photographed last week was robust enough to survive, although it may not open any more fully. Most frozen blooms, however, are left with wilted and sagging petals when they thaw.

That’s not a worry, since the frost will usually just have finished off the last of the flowers from autumn. The plants will flower again next year – if they’re hardy. But there are some that are only borderline hardy and will only survive if the winter doesn’t get too cold for them.

The salvia above (Salvia involucrata ‘Bethellii’) may withstand temperatures down to about -5℃ and this plant managed to come through several winters. A far colder spell than we’ve had for a long time was too much for it, though, and it didn’t reappear the following spring. Some cuttings from the plant did survive that unusually cold period. They are in a huge pot that’s part of a collection of containers that my husband has planted up to go in front of the house. There it’s sheltered by the house wall. It benefits from a sunny, south-facing position and the warmth that radiates from both the wall and the paved driveway below it. This just shows how microclimates can vary within a garden!

The little daisy below was, I think, Rhodanthemum ‘Moondance’. (The leaves belong to the plant behind it.) It should have coped with winter. In this case it was probably the heavy winter rain that killed it rather than the cold. It’s a Mediterranean plant that likes good drainage. Here our summers are normally very dry, but, awkwardly, our winters can be rainy and wet. That means that I do sometimes lose plants if I haven’t given them good enough drainage. I think I’m lucky that so much does survive! 🌿