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Garden Blog 14 – A Touch of Frost

I hadn’t been to the National Botanic Garden of Wales for about a month, due to the bad weather, Christmas, New Year etc, so when we went there this week I was hoping to see signs of new life and I wasn’t disappointed.  There are flowers on some of the witch hazels and hellebores, the snowdrops are showing little bits of white on the shoots and lots of the other plants are either poking their noses through the soil or are showing fat buds on their branches.   It’s really reassuring to know that even given the awful weather that we’ve had of late, the cycle of rebirth is so obvious.  Being a ‘glass half full’ sort of person I was really encouraged by my walk along the Broadwalk.  I know it’s early days yet and the weather seems to have its own agenda but have you noticed that it’s staying light later?  In an earlier life, we always looked forward to it being light when we finished work at 5 o’clock.  I’m sure that won’t be long now, probably the end of January.

A member of the garden staff told me that the recent bad weather had caused the pipes in the Tropical House, to freeze and the temperature dropped down below zero.   The temperature in the House is meant to be – well – tropical, so the effect, certainly from the point of view of the plants, would have been devastating.  We all know what happens to tender plants when frost gets onto them, don’t we?  I thought I would go down to the Tropical House to see how it looked.  When I got there, expecting the worst, I was impressed with the damage limitation carried out by the staff responsible for the collection.  Oh sure, you could see that there had been problems, but it was still a lovely place to be and there were flowers to photograph.  I don’t know whether you are like us when in the Tropical House but our conversation seems to consist of “Oh look, we had one of those didn’t we!”  To which the answer is usually “Oh yes, it died didn’t it”.   I think it’s great to see what we call houseplants in a setting that is more normal for them.  Yes, I know it’s still artificial, but they look so much better in there than in the corner of my living room either parched or water logged because I just can’t get it right.   

You might deduce from the last paragraph that houseplants are not my forte, and you’d be right, and I have to say that orchids are not one of my favourites but I was really taken with a beautiful white Paphiopedilum called ‘Clair de Lune’ which I spotted in the Tropical House.  Such lovely clean lines and the contrast between the white and green is stunning.  I hope you like it as much as I do.

Pam Murden