It’s late winter and we’ve had sun, snow and rain today in North West England. Spring is only three weeks away so it’s time for me to get on with tidying the garden. We’ve had some lovely dried flowers and seed heads in the garden all winter.
I’ve encountered insects such as Ladybirds around the garden over the past few days which suggests to me that their hibernation is over.
So I think it’s safe for me to remove the old dried stalks, faded stems and seed heads to give the garden it’s late winter tidy up.
Do you remember the Ladybird I found hiding away in a dried flower in autumn?
It’s gone now. I hope it survived.
Some plants are looking decidedly tatty. Some are still beautiful. Nevertheless it seems like the right time to cut back the old stems and have a good clean up. I’ve enjoyed their faded beauty for a few months. Now I’m looking forward to the surge of new growth that will rush in as the days lengthen and the suns rays warm the earth.
In the meantime I’m enjoying these Hydrangeas for a little longer.
Do you find that letting your hydrangeas stay on the “old wood” longer that you get more flowers? My bushes are so huge that I go between cutting them back (often in arrangements) and cutting just where the new blooms are beginning. I know that the newer varieties like, Endless Summer, bloom all year round and don’t bloom on old wood like the majority of hydrangeas do. But what is your “best practice?”
My Hydrangeas are quite young… I haven’t been cutting them for the house simply leaving their heads for the past couple of winters then tidying them up in Spring when the new shoots appear.
I imagine that your ladybird beetles are waking up and others will follow. How exciting it is when spring is around the corner.
Yes you’re right Tina. I love Spring too.
As lovely as the winter seed heads are, there is something very satisfying about having a good tidy up too. Those late hydrangea heads have a special beauty though, don’t they? I hadn’t thought of them as a ladybird refuge. Lovely photographs.
Thanks very much.