Banner image: Viola Odorata via RCP London

T.S. Elliot said that April is the cruelest month, but for gardeners surely it’s February. Cut-flower season is barely in sight, the trees are still naked and there are hardly any vegetables in my plot. Conversely, the supermarkets and street vendors are boasting an amazing variety of colourful flowers, vegetables and fruits that are very tempting but almost exclusively imported from half way across the world. Seasonal shopping is hardest when it comes to flowers – the market is saturated with affordable, unusual and out-of-season imported blooms. Combined with the fact that in Britain some flowers are almost impossible to grow out of season, and the unreliable nature of field-grown seasonal flowers, and it’s not surprising that we rely on imports from Ocober to May. But for those of us who want flowers without the air miles it doesn’t have to be all about snowdrops, hyacinths and helebores in February. Some very talented and hard-working British horticulturalists make extra effort to provide blooms through the winter months.

Violets

There are various winter-flowering violets available in the UK. Viola odorata is a sweetly scented frost-hardy variety available at The Devon Violet Nursery and
Groves Violet Nurseries. Viola ‘Columbine’ (above) is especially nice, a single violet streaked with white and violet-blue. Violets were the original St Valentine’s Day flower, a title now userped by the long stemmed red rose. Apparently St. Valentine used crushed violets as a pigment to write letters from his place of imprisonment. So they truly belong to February.

Narcissus

Scilly Flowers has beautifully cheerful Scented Narcissi available now, at least a month before they’ll start to emerge in most gardens. The mild winters on the Isle of Scilly allow Churchtown Farm to grow these along with Show Pinks for mail order almost all year round. I really like the Posy Pack (above) – a little ray of sunshine on these gray days.

Carnations


Allwoods has bouquets of carnations available for mail order.They are undoubtedly more expensive than the ones you’ll get in the supermarket, but it’s worth it if you’re committed to seasonal shopping. You might also want to pick up some plugs to grow yourself – they have a beautiful range of pinks. I love the salmon-coloured ‘Treasure’ (above top right); the unusually marked and brilliantly named ‘Old Square Eyes’ (above bottom left) and the luxurious Show Satin (above bottom right).