January
After some snow in early January, the month has been wet, wet, wet (and forecast to continue so for all of February). The sun has only occasionally peeped out from behind the clouds, making it a very overcast month.
Despite the greyness and fairly chilly temperatures, the winter-flowering plants can sense the rhythm of the seasons; by the end of the month there is a perceptible increase in daylight length. So the early snowdrops, hellebores and camellias are out.
Rhododendron ‘Christmas Cheer’ lost quite a few blossoms to the snow and frost at the beginning of the month, but plenty more have taken their place.
Daphne bholua started flowering in December and is still going strong, along with its wonderful fragrance. Sarcococca confusa joins it in scenting the garden. C. ‘St Ewe’ is always the first camellia, followed slowly by C. ‘Anticipation’, ‘Debbie’, ‘Cornish Spring’ and a white japonica cultivar whose name is lost in the mists of time.
Cothi Gardeners 