Tucked up for winter (in case we get one)

Proper winter still seems a distant prospect and I can report that the garden remains as treacherously slick and slidey as it was a week ago. The grass has put on at least 5cm since mid-October and there continues to be no sign of frost in the forecast for our neck of the woods. In a moment of madness I thought about cutting back herbaceous perennials, but working in the borders today, even from scaffolding planks, would be akin to balancing on a log in a vat of soggy tiramisu – something which is rarely advisable, and never when wielding a pair of freshly sharpened secateurs...

But one thing's as sure as a rat running up a drainpipe and that is: IT WON'T LAST. Eventually, cold air will plunge down from the Arctic, a drying wind will set in, the skies will clear and a hard frost will mercilessly cut to the ground anything remotely fragile or temperamental. And the fact that everywhere is so wet will make those tender waifs even more vulnerable, as they struggle to cope with conditions that are about as far as imaginable from their Mediterranean and subtropical homelands.

Preparing the ark to sail forth into winter...

So over the last few days, I have established a diverse collection of botanical refugees in the greenhouse, among them Agapanthus and Pelargonium from South Africa, Dahlia and Echeveria from Meso-America, Salvia guaranitica from South America, Geranium maderense from Madeira, and Ensete ventricosum from the highlands of East Africa. All of these will survive the winter – though probably not enjoy the experience very much – in pots in the greenhouse, where a small thermostatically controlled heater will prevent them from freezing solid, but nothing more than that. I'll keep them all on the dry side, and clean the glass regularly, since it's the combination of wet, low light levels and cold that will cause them to shuffle off this mortal coil, rather than cold alone. The opening of the ark doors one day in March and the ritual of carrying everything out to its summer home is one of the best moments of the year and one that I'm already looking forward to.