HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY
27th April 2017
One word, frost. Until this week we’d had but two short periods this year when the temperature had fallen below zero, 10th and 11th February. Overnight on 25th April we had several hours at -1.0°C, and short periods of the same on the nights of the 24th and 26th.
The runner beans needed to be planted out as they were starting to climb all over the place and each other in the greenhouse. All are now lying on the ground and won’t revive. We have already planted another batch of seeds in pots in the greenhouse. The pea plants planted at the same time seem unaffected by the cold.
Some of the hydrangeas seem to have suffered badly with new leaves turning brown, others hardly touched at all. Hopefully the flowers to come later won’t be affected.
This pink azalea was magnificent this year, not any more. Another pink azalea has turned brown too, but the red azaleas don’t show anything like this amount of damage. The poor smokebush, decimated last year twice by rabbits and deer, has lost about 50% of its leaves to the frost too.