The Winter Garden 2021

I leant upon a coppice gate
When Frost was spectre-gray,
And Winter’s dregs made desolate
The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
Had sought their household fires.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

As I write this article, the first rounds of vaccination against the Covid virus are imminent and we may at last be progressing to the normality that we once knew. For our own part, a retreat to the garden has provided welcome relief and reminded us how essential it is to mental health.

For many people the word “orchid” conjures up a world of tropical forests full of vine covered trees and luxuriant foliage or flamboyant multi-coloured flowers in garden centres. But orchids can be found in all continents except Antarctica. Many of us in rural areas will be familiar with the smaller members of the family, which occur in uncultivated parts of our own countryside.

In my own garden Dactylorhiza fuchsii, the common spotted orchid, has spontaneously occurred and established several small clumps. As lovely as our native species are, they cannot provide the impact of some of their european relatives. Dactylorhiza elata or the robust marsh orchid, which is several times larger than our native species, is found throughout the continent and favours moist, well drained, humus rich soils in light shade. It will have to be sourced from specialist nurseries and is relatively expensive, but rewards with an impressive display. It is best divided in the spring and has been quick to increase, with my own plant doubling its tubers each year.

Cypripediums, or slipper orchids, offer more of a challenge and in my experience will not prosper unless special preparations are undertaken. After several expensive failures I have realised that they do not flourish in normal garden soils but require an inorganic mixture which holds moisture but is extremely free draining. I have excavated an area 6 inches deep and replaced the soil with a mixture of perlite, bark, pine needles and baked clay granules (Seramis). Since there are no nutrients in this mix, plants will require weekly supplemental feeding during the summer. Cold protection in winter is unnecessary since they are quite hardy, however I have found it wise to cage the bed to avoid marauding blackbirds who scratch out the bed seeking worms. These are not plants for the beginner, but the experienced gardener will derive enormous pleasure when succeeding to bring them into flower.