On chilly winter’s days when we all hurry through our front doors seeking warmth, I bring the star plants of the season up close where I can appreciate them. My small open porch has a couple of shelves where I arrange pots and baskets of plants and bulbs according to the season.
One of the main attractions is to place scented plants in the space as the archway seems to capture the perfume and welcomes you home. Our postman asked what the wonderful smell was the other day. A compliment indeed from the man who pops the post through our door at high speed then jogs off in his shorts (yes, shorts in January!) to carry on his round.
At the moment, the perfume is from a bowl of white hyacinths that formed part of my Christmas entrance. Down at ground level, ‘Paperwhite’ narcissi are also in bloom. Both are from bulbs bred for forcing indoors, but I find they do better in the cool of the porch where they don’t get as leggy as those brought on in a centrally heated room.
Tucked round the base of the narcissi are a few young hellebore plants that are about to come into flower and have the advantage of particularly attractive foliage. Helleborus lividus – a tender evergreen with dark, steely green foliage veined in silver and backed in pink. It has pink-backed apple green, or sometimes pink, flowers. Flowering in January through to March, it is ideal in a terracotta pot in a cold greenhouse or unheated porch. The named type ‘Purple Ear’ has cream-green cup shaped flowers, flushed pinkish-purple and lighter green leaves. Lovely plants worth tucking up for winter viewing.
A blast of colour comes from a potted Cornus ‘Midwinter Fire’, with its gorgeous twiggy stems of orange and red. This is a real eye-catcher of a plant destined for a new garden project come the spring. They’re not plants suited to long term pot culture – this is my quick fix for the short, bleak days of January.
Hidden in wicker baskets are some bulbs that will soon be peeping through. I love to place miniature Iris reticulata here where their intricate beauty can be appreciated close up. They come in shades of blue, purple and white. Carpets of the ghostly grey/blue Iris ‘Katherine Hodgkin’ can be seen in the winter garden at Dunham Massey. It’s a unique colour and an iris that I think is better seen close up where you can inspect its intriguing ink blotch-like patterns. Iris danfordiae is a bright canary yellow and wonderfully scented – like honey. The baskets are topped with viola which flower throughout winter on mild, sunny days and will last as late as May, if deadheaded frequently.
Tucked in between the pots and baskets are pine cones collected on walks and a candle lantern which is lit on evenings when guests are expected. This idea of welcoming visitors at the front door is one I learnt from the great author and gardener Christopher Lloyd years ago when visiting his garden Great Dixter. I had the privilege of sitting in the porch with Christo as he signed my collection of his books. He put me on the spot and asked which one of his publications I had enjoyed the most. I went back to one of the first gardening book I ever read, ‘The Well-Chosen Garden’ and he agreed that it was the one he was probably most satisfied with. It had gone out of print back then, but is now available once more and I would recommend it as an entertaining, informative read.
The porch at Great Dixter was revisited in early September 2016. Although Christo died ten years ago, the staff still create an amazing arrangement of high summer flowers and foliage on a grand scale. Be inspired by it and look to pimping up your own entrance in 2017.
The welcoming porch at Great Dixter
