Gardening Tips for February 2025

New year’s advice from gardening journos appears to be do as little as needed to enjoy your garden! Enjoying the garden must be what it is all about and doing little in February certainly has something going for it; however, having toiled for years making your garden oasis - the prize you have always dreamed of, now isn’t really the time to sit back and let the weeds (sorry wildflowers, I was forgetting they have been rebranded) grow with impunity. So, as you gaze out of the window, mug of coffee in one hand, the Parish Magazine opened to this article in the other, let’s think back to the weather of 2024 and hope for better in the coming months.

Regarding my yearly rain update, how did 2024 compare with other years? Overall, dryer than 2023 although February was very wet. Surprisingly the autumn of 2024 was comparatively dryer than average and much dryer than the autumn of 2023 but we can only remember last autumn for the rain! The problem was one of distribution and frequency, it didn’t rain much but what we got was concentrated in just a few days. And a few more figures for those who need to know, since I started measuring rainfall in 2007 the average monthly rainfall is 69 mm (range, 0 mm in April 2011 to 215 mm in December 2013) and the average yearly total rainfall is 812 mm (range, 563 mm in 2012 to 1033 mm in 2013). When it wasn’t raining other than a baking hot May followed by an even dryer June, the weather just seemed dull, heavy cloud cover seemed to be with us all the time, the lack of sunlight hours being felt by those growing vines and anyone with solar power. And at the time of writing (5th Jan) we have already had 40 mm of rain compared to 40 mm for the whole of December 2024.

So, while we are just thinking about gardening, have you ever considered where all the gardening jargon comes from? Not much appears to be English in origin, save perhaps summerhouse, shed or greenhouse. To really get into the groove we need to spec up the terminology for a more intimate feeling of oneness with our back yard, I mean garden. So how about these for starters,

Gazebo – A small, decorated building with a roof and open sides the intended use being to admire the view. Entomology – Mid C18 perhaps humorously from gaze and in imitation of the Latin future tense ending – ebo (as in Latin videbo, I shall see). The word Gazebo overlapping with pavilion, kiosk, belvedere, folly, gloriette, cupola, pergola and rotunda. Such structures first appeared in Egyptian gardens about 5000 years ago and well documented in Chinese and other classical literature.

Pavilion – derived from Latin and Anglo-French for butterfly, first used to describe a large, sumptuous tent in C13. Often used to describe a much larger structure suitable for watching or having a tea break during a game of cricket.

Belvedere – the precursor of Gazebo, a small building on a hill for sitting and taking in the view. First used in 1570 and derived from the Italian bel and vedere – beautiful view.

Gloriette – much the same as Belvedere but designed to support climbing plants. C12 in origin, from the French for little room.

Veranda – take any of the above and adjoin to the house, believed to be Hindi in origin but some disagreement because it could be Portuguese, the Indian’s already had an Alinda.

Patio – generally a paved area next to a house and derived from Spanish, finding one under any of the above can also be considered a patio or extension of. And one more –

Pergola – a shaded walkway, derived from late Latin pergula, referring to a projecting eave.

Keep gardening.

Richard Haigh