Discovering Wint-pring
The quote this month is by Vita Sackville-West, the owner and creator of the famous garden, called Sissinghurst, in the English county of Kent. The quote is from this wonderful anthology and commentary by her granddaughter-in-law, Sarah Raven, the well-known flower grower and arranger. She has selected and collated parts of Vita’s writing and put them into context with her garden. It is a lovely winter read, and I will tell you more about it in the book review below.
Vita’s idea of “wint-pring” for this current time of year is brilliant. I want this term to be in widespread use. It describes this sub-season perfectly. The ground is still frozen, but the air is alternately warm when the sun catches a garden corner, and then perishing cold when there is a biting wind and you are in the shade.
By this point in the gardening year, I am done with winter. I really want to put it behind me and forget it. Dreaming of spring is my favorite occupation. So, to follow Vita’s advice is delightful. I know that I already do this but now it has a name.
Vita says, “My wint-pring corner shall be stuffed with every sort of bulb or corm that will flower during those few scanty weeks. The main point is that it shall be really stuffed, crammed full; packed tight…”. She continues, “let it be in a place which you pass frequently and can observe from day to day.” I wholeheartedly agree.
If you did not plant bulbs in a wint-pring corner this autumn, you can begin now. Find bulbs, which are already planted up in pots, that you can put outside in a corner by your door. Use a big container, and put a few winter pansies around the edge when they are available in the shops. This autumn, find yourself “a little patch of ground,” plant some early-blooming bulbs, and follow Vita’s wint-pring advice.
I have been back on the lecture circuit, including a wonderful trip to speak for the Laguna Beach Garden Club. Other talks were locally to The Garden Club of Princeton and the Tanamend Herb Club. By Zoom, I spoke for the Capitol Hill Garden Club and Mt. Airy Claybusters (best garden club name yet). If you are interested in having me speak to your club, I am booking now for autumn onwards to publicize my new book on bulbs. It will be published by Timber Press and released in September this year. Watch this space for more details.
5 Plants with Heart-shaped Leaves for Your Garden-Loving Valentine
This month in my blog I have the perfect Valentine’s gift for your gardening loved one – leaves that are heart-shaped. Find one or two that show your heart-felt love.
Plant of the Month:
Early-Blooming Spring Crocuses
“I now find myself regretting that I did not plant more of the species crocuses, which are busy coming out in quick succession. They are so very charming, and so very small…. One wants to see them close to the eye, fully to appreciate the pencilling on the outside of the petals; it seems to have been drawn with a fine brush….” Sarah also mentions a couple of Vita’s favorite crocuses including the cultivars ‘Advance’ and ‘Snow Bunting’.
Inspired by the quote by Vita, I am going to rave about some of the early-blooming crocuses. If you choose carefully, you can have some crocuses blooming in your garden from late winter through to early spring—just the wint-pring time that Vita was talking about above. I can have them out here at Northview as early as January, and through to the beginning of April. The species crocuses, as described by Vita, bloom first, and the large Dutch-type crocuses bloom last.
For added interest, look for crocuses which have that characteristic pencilling on the outer petals. There are also ones that have the inner three petals of one color or shading, and the outer three are another. All crocuses are planted in the autumn as tiny corms—bulb-like structures. They are unfortunately eaten by many types of herbivores, so they need to be protected using hot pepper–type sprays or prickly branches, such as evergreen holly boughs.
I find that white crocuses show up well as soon as the snow melts. Purple or yellow-gold are visible if it is snowy. They will even pop up through melting snow. They only open on a sunny day and then close again at night. Planting with a gravel mulch or positioning them to come up through a lawn are two other ways of reducing animal damage to crocuses.
Book of the Month:
Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst: The Creation of a Garden
The lovely thing about this book is that it is a personal book. Sarah Raven, who is married to Adam Nicolson, Vita’s grandson, lived at Sissinghurst for some years. Because she and her family lived in the house, they could explore the gardens at all hours. She brings this personal touch to her descriptions of Vita’s life, writing, and garden. Quotes from Vita’s writing are organized by subject.
The book begins with some history of the Elizabethan site and a section on Harold Nicolson’s design and layout of the garden. The bulk of the book brings together Vita’s passion for plants and her inimitable style of plant-packed beds. There are sections about indoor gardening and cut flowers, and then there is a short section on the recent past.
If you are interested in flowery English gardens, there are many useful tidbits to pull out and think about. There is also a story of an age when gardening was changing from the stiff, regimented flower beds of Vita’s mother’s garden to a free-flowing and personal style. Vita wrote a newspaper column for about 15 years, so she had a huge influence on English gardening in the mid-twentieth century. Because her garden has been preserved by the National Trust for about 60 years, and cared for by teams of talented gardeners, we too can learn from Vita’s garden at Sissinghurst.
This book is free to read at the Internet Archive, a web based library.
In Case You Were Gardening…
A Quartet of Flower Histories for Winter Reading – January 7, 2025
Minneapolis Seedswomen of the Early 1990s – November 11, 2024
From Seeds to Flowers – Febuary 7, 2024
Compost Advice for Home Gardeners
I was happy to contribute to a recent article in Homes & Gardens magazine regarding composting. Check out the whole article below, but one thing I recommend to not compost is weeds that have gone to seed. Your compost pile likely doesn’t get hot enough to kill them off. You risk spreading the weed seeds around when you go to use the compost in beds and borders. Read on for more common compost mistakes to avoid.
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Bye for now,
PS: If you want to hear more of my thoughts and support me in what I do, check out my books. Glorious Shade celebrates the benefits of shade and shows you how to make the most of it. This information-rich, hardworking guide is packed with everything you need to successfully garden in the shadiest corners of a yard.The Ultimate Flower Gardener’s Guide gives home gardeners the confidence they need to create the flower-filled garden of their dreams. Instead of concentrating primarily on color, it brings flower shape and texture to the fore, helping homeowners make plant choices that come together in an aesthetically pleasing way.
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