Page 52 • The HERALD • 15th February 2024 v SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SPECIALISTS v ✿ DOWN THE GARDEN PATH ✿ Fred Hurst 023 8084 2191 or 07761 467217 • Grass Cutting • Garden Clearance • Hedge Cutting • Fallen Trees Cleared • Mini Digger Hire with Operator • Property Clearance • Small Demolition • Tractor Flail Cutting FULLY INSURED v FREE QUOTATIONS COVERING SOUTHAMPTON AND NEW FOREST • Patios • Turf • Fencing • Artificial lawns • Decking • Garden structures • Driveways • Clearances • Brickwork • Jet-washing Call now on 07961 234448 to sow the seeds for your new outside living space or email: honeysucklelandscapes1@gmail.com See our previous work at: www.honeysucklelandscapes.com • All types of trees expertly felled, topped & pruned • Stump Grinding • Hedges pruned & trimmed • Lawns Laid • Fencing & garden work • Rubbish Clearance • Patios & drives jet-washed • Patios & Drives resurfaced or replaced Registerd Waste Carrier Licence CBDU374716 H Fully Insured H Evening: 01794 522092 Daytime Mobile: 07946 513633 Email: treefellers@gmx.com FLOWERS IN MIDWINTER? by Debbie Thorne, Foresters Flower Club Nature tells us not to despair in midwinter by making the days longer, flowers start to peep through, but still we ponder about how to make a floral inspired arrangement for our home. Outside are still some pretty, multicoloured cyclamen and Christmas roses, but neither are keen to come into our warm homes. There are early daffodils, snowdrops and catkins appearing, as if nature is sending its golden rays to flowers such as early daffodils, paper whites, tulips, catkins, plum blossom. Use the twigs to create your desired shape. Sculptural Twigs and Branches in a Vase: Enjoy these alone, without distracting flowers. Use deadwood and lichen blown off trees, or evergreen displays of pine, olive, or eucalyptus. A Nordic tradition being bunches of fragrant spruce, fir, pine and holly brought indoors to enjoy. Alternatively, a display of glossy, green rhododendron leaves, or pussy willow. Midwinter Vase: Striking amaryllis - all colours from dramatic red to soft peach may be used to make a beautiful arrangement in block colour. Witch hazel with its curly petals in warm colours emit an exquisite perfume; they can last well in a vase. Or just for a few weeks, dig up a few spring bulbs, just in flower, and plant in a nice bowl/ container. Place somewhere cool like a windowsill and keep moist. Once they have finished flowering, put them back. We hope these ideas help brighten these chilly winter days! All meetings take place at 7.30pm, at Copythorne Parish Hall, SO40 2NZ, the next meetings are: Thursday 7th March: AGM & Show Night: theme is ‘A Memorable Event’. Bring along your arrangements and help raise money. Thursday 4th April: Demonstration by Martina Coleman ‘Footlights and Clapper Boards’. For more information please contact Debbie Thorne on: 07769 830752. indicate warmer days will soon be here. Trying to get outside can be tricky, but the health benefits are well worth the effort and well documented. Foraging must be responsibly managed - guided by local and national information. Tuning into nature as we go will reveal its own wonders like the musical song thrush, squirrels, wild birds etc. Another sustainable resource is to use the UK Flower Growers: www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk there will be lean times, but they usually have something of interest. Here are some ideas I hope will inspire your creativity: Spring Vase: By using some of the debris following nature’s spring clean (wild storms), a delightful, foam free arrangement can be made. Place twigs into the vase of water. Then add spring GARDENING IN FEBRUARY Advice from RHS This month there are signs of the approaching spring, with bulbs appearing and wildlife waking up as light levels and temperatures increase. There’s plenty to do indoors this month to prepare for the season ahead. Outdoors, as the garden comes to life again, it’s time to prune shrubs and climbers, such as Wisteria as well as and a good idea with main crops, to ‘chit’ the seed potatoes before planting. This means allowing them to start sprouting shoots. Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines and peaches: Most top fruit and soft fruit are very hardy but once they start into growth in spring, flowers and buds are especially vulnerable to frost and may need protection to crop well. Other gardening jobs for February: • Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep the birds off. • Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering. • Divide bulbs such as snowdrops, and plant those that need planting ‘in the green’. • Prune Wisteria. • Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges. • Prune conservatory climbers such as bougainvillea. • Cut back deciduous grasses left uncut over the winter, remove dead grass from evergreen grasses. evergreen hedges. Top gardening jobs in February Prepare vegetable seed beds, and sow some vegetables under cover: Knowing which vegetables to sow where, when and how means you can maintain constant supplies throughout the season. Chit potato tubers: It’s important with earlies,
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