PLANT combinations #3

Well it was a winter wonderland today. After pouring rain all day yesterday, this is what we woke up to. I can see what looks like an ice skating rink out in the back of the garden which doesn’t auger well for the plants under there. My heart sinks. Our winter has gone on too long here in the east.

Then the adorable friends from BC start the annual announcements about what they’ve got in bloom NOW. I love my friends and it makes me long for something to show up in this garden. Until this great dump of snow, I could see snouts coming up from the ground. The wonderful Hamamelis ‘Diane’ is looking gorgeous bedecked in bright orange-red flowers.  I love the the denseness of the coral bark of the Acer palmatum ‘Sangu-kaku’ (on the left side of this picture).

I wasn’t unhappy with this sight until I got a very nice e-mail from Jeff de Jong. He has a radio show in Victoria (will be on it April 2) and my burning desire for  Spring came leaping to the forefront.

Here’s Crocus with Cyclamen coum taken in his garden this week. I could weep. This is a dazzling combination.  The undertones of  violet in both plants works absolutely perfectly.  It’s hard to grow crocus in our neighbourhood alas.  Squirrels paw them up almost inevitably. I have two small patches I watch like a hawk (where is that hawk when you need him?) and putting the Cyclamen with them is great.

Cyclamen are tuberous plants and should grow in this area but I’ve never planted them and this will encourage me to do so.  And now for spring….

We gardeners live in hope—always.