Grumpy

It was my birthday recently and I’ve never really been very good at giving myself treats. My idea of the perfect present to myself was not cleaning the loo for a day. Bliss. I managed to hold out until about 3 in the afternoon then succumbed to doing a bit of plunging. I did do a bit of internet shopping in the evening though and bought what I think is a lovely A1 pen and ink drawing of some dead leaves all in a monotone sepia colour. I’m probably not making it sound very interesting but it should look good when it’s framed and on the wall. I couldn’t resist the picture, it only cost me 5 euro off E-Bay. Who can resist a bargain?

Snowdrop Mania
It’s a bit early for me to be buying any real plants for the garden and as it’s the first spring we have yet to see what’s appearing. There are the strange oniony bulbs coming up as predicted and we noticed a few crocus and daffodils are appearing.

The few snowdrops we had were soon trampled by the dogs but attractive in their short life. I’m glad it wasn’t the snowdrops that were on sale through E-bay last week that got trampled; there was a single Scottish Elizabeth Harrison snowdrop bulb (Galanthus woronowii) that was sold for a record €865 which made my poster picture of dead leaves look even better value. The price paid for the lowly snowdrop more than doubled the price of the previous most expensive bulb, a ‘grumpy ‘Green Tear, which went for €430 last month. 30 collectors frantically bid for the new pale stemmed specimen.

Security
Becoming popular in the 19th century and with more than 2,000 cultivated varieties there is plenty of scope to spend loads of money getting a collection together.
Joe Sharman, 51, discovered the fed-up Grumpy flower - Galanthus elwesii - in the garden of British explorer Sir Vivian Fuchs in Cambridge 20 years ago and Joe won’t reveal where he grows them because he fears the valuable plants will be stolen. With snowdrops suddenly becoming so valuable, many collectors are hiring security guards or using tags to protect their rare species when they put them on display. Job creation in the horticultural industry!
It's still got to go some to match the tulip mania. At the peak of the hysteria, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsperson. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble. I’d estimate that at about €250,000 euro. I’m off into the garden to see what gems I can find...you never know what’s lurking in the undergrowth.

March flowers
As I am in the garden it seems a good time to see what needs doing at this time of year.
Divide snowdrops. Lift and divide any congested snowdrops after flowering but while still in leaf. Carefully tease the clumps apart and replant the bulbs at the same depth they were before. Check if they have smiley faces or any other cute characteristics, you might be able to sell them for a fortune on Ebay.

Hostas. Lift and divide large clumps of hostas before the leaves get big. Slice through the root ball with a spade leaving a few shoots on each piece. Replant the sections back at their original level.
Hardy annuals. Sow hardy annuals such as calendula, nasturtium, lavateras and cornflowers in shallow drills or patches. They are very reliable and germinate quickly, and a good choice to keep children interested in helping you grow your flowers.

Pruning clematis. Summer-flowering clematis varieties that blossom on the current season's growth, such as Clematis 'Etoile Violette', need to have last year's growth pruned out now. Cut any tangled old stems down to a pair of new shoots near ground level as soon as possible.

Prune honeysuckle. Honeysuckle can be pruned back now if yours has got out of hand. Prune all the shoots to about 1metre from the ground and cut out old or dead shoots. If you can see any green buds below the 1m mark then prune back to just above those. By summer the shoots will have doubled on size.

Jasmine. I chopped back a jasmine climber a few weeks ago. Since then all the leaves have dropped off. I’m thinking I should probably have left that for while. Don’t be it too much of a rush to get everything cleared up just yet. There are still a lot of things hibernating in the garden and making the most of what looks like an untidy mess to us.