Look carefully and there is much going on in the February garden, as Gina Parkinson discovers.

THE garden seems quiet in February. But take a careful look and much will be revealed at soil level, as shoots push through and the first early flowers begin to appear.

Take that favourite spring plant Pulmonaria, for example, with its spotted leaves and clusters of small flowers.

In our garden officinalis is already in flower, just a solitary bloom it is true, but how lovely it is to see those beautiful blue petals and small silver dotted leaves.

Pulmonaria officinalis or Lungwort has been cultivated in Britain for hundreds of years and an infusion of the leaves is said to be good as a treatment for pulmonary complaints and coughs.

Young leaves can also be used in salads and the blue flowers mature to pink as they age. It prefers damp shady places but will tolerate more open conditions and is particularly attractive growing with pale yellow primroses.

The other early flowering pulmonaria in our garden is 'Mary Mottram' with heavily silvered pale leaves and blue flowers. It blooms earlier in a sunny spot but looks fresher for longer in shade.

Snowdrops are in profusion in February and should last most of the month. With the first of them opening in early January, they will have been flowering for the best part of two months.

We have an increasing clump in the front garden, a good place to see them as we go out each morning. More grow under the holly tree in the back garden, a rather inhospitable place where they have struggled to establish but are at last beginning to increase.

Eventually I hope they will form thick clumps like the wild ones seen on grass verges and in woodland, but fear a few more years will be needed before they reach that stage.

It is worth going out into the country to see the wild snowdrops in February. We did one of George Wilkinson's walks last week in the hills above Kepwick, a village on the western edge of the North York Moors National Park, north of Thirsk. Once off the A19, the roads to Kepwick were bordered by thick drifts of snowdrops and we found more growing alongside winter aconite in the small churchyard.

Hardy geraniums are beginning to sprout, although they won't be in flower for some time yet.

Two good ones for early spring interest are Ann Folkard and G.oxonianum Spring Fling.

The attractive foliage of the latter is splashed with green, pink and cream and forms an interesting block of colour, which if it appeared later in the season would be overshadowed by showier plants. The foliage fades as it matures and the flowers are insignificant but by the time this happens other plants have come to the fore.

Ann Folkard is a great hardy geranium with bright yellowish leaves, rich black eyed magenta flowers and long stems that will climb through other plants.

The colour combination of the foliage and flowers sounds horrible but somehow works.

I grow it with lime green euphorbias, yellow variegated eunymous and a pink rose; I sometimes wonder if I should be less tasteful and try it with bolder reds and oranges just to see what happens.

At the moment this hardly matters because the first leaf has just opened, yellow in the centred shading to green edged in pink, tiny but perfect.

Weekend catch-up

TRIM winter flowering heathers as soon as they have finished flowering. They just need to be lightly trimmed with the old flower stems removed to just above the green leaves below.

Secateurs can be used if there are only one or two plants to be done, but if there are a lot a pair of sharp shears will be quicker. Trimming the plants annually after flowering encourages dense growth and better blooming the following winter.

Garden talk

A REMINDER that Askham Bryan College (ABC) Gardening Club is hosting a talk by Roy Lancaster entitled Where Our Garden Plants Come From on Tuesday March 8 on the Conference Hall at Askham Bryan College. Tickets will not be available at the door and need to be bought in advance by post from the Gardening Club Office, 27, Ebor Way, Nether Poppleton, YO26 6NJ.

They are free to ABC Gardening Club Members and £5 to non-members. Please send a cheque for the appropriate amount and made payable to Askham Bryan College Gardening Club to the above address together with a stamped addressed envelope.

Gardening TV and radio

Tomorrow - 13/02/05

9am, Radio Leeds. Joe Maiden and Tim Crowther.

Noon, Radio York. William Jenkyns.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. Eric Robson, Anne Swithinbank, Bob Flowerdew and John Cushnie advise gardeners from Wiltshire. Plus a look at lavender and at 2.25pm, the forecast.

Monday - Friday

10am, BBC1, Garden Invaders. The team helps to sort out gardens around the country as the owners answer questions to win plants for the new designs. This week includes a child's adventure garden, a quiet oasis and clever space management.

Monday

8.30pm, BBC1, Ground Force. Stylish planting and an unusual water feature are on the menu this week when Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh revamp a garden in Cork.

Updated: 09:18 Saturday, February 12, 2005