- Scrub down and apply preservative to wooden garden furniture now to stop their bases becoming green or oily in the warmer months.

- Newly planted trees and shrubs are less likely to need watering in their first year, but set a perforated tube or plastic bottle among the roots just in case, so you can get the water underneath where it counts.

- Snowdrops and yellow aconites are starting to shine, but can you see any from your windows? Lift a clump and spread them there now.

- Garden centres can stock only a limited variety of bedding plants in spring, so if you are planning to order your particular choice of varieties by post, then place it with a specialist supplier now.

- Resist buying doubtfully hardy plants and shrubs until April, when the weather is more certain, giving them an infinitely better start.

Readers’ queries

When should oriental hellebores be divided?
Mr A. Newport, Gloucester

I am sure there is a 20-syllable German word beginning with Pflanze and ending in lust that describes perfectly the way gardeners covet each others’ plants. The oriental hellebore hybrids are one of the most coveted – what other herbaceous plant produces such large, summery flowers in winter? The best time to divide them is in early spring, just as the flower stems unfurl (the leaf stems unfurl later). If you want only a single, small division of an old clump to give away, take a knife and slice off a piece of the crown with two to three old leaves and roots attached; the rest of the clump can be left undisturbed and will be happier for that. If you want another piece for yourself, to make immediate impact, simply slice through the middle of the clump with a sharp spade and remove one half with a fork. If you want lots of divisions, lift the whole clump and break it into wedges like a cake, so each piece has a bit of "outside". (If you remove all the outside and leave only the middle of the cake, you will be left with something that will be woody and slow to recover.) Crowns that are only a year or two old are best dug up and pulled carefully apart so you do not break off any of those precious buds without their roots. I would much rather leave a new hellebore for at least three years before disturbing it. If someone asks for a piece of a new acquisition, just say, "Maybe next year...", and if they actually remember, well that’s fine.

I have moved an upturned bucket in the garden and there are daffodils underneath. The leaves are completely yellow and 6in tall. Will they die?
Mrs. C. Steele, London NW10

They won’t die – they are indestructible. The bulbs, however, will need those leaves all this season to build up the bulbs for next year’s flowering. If your tulips have flopped, prop them up on a mountain of dead leaves to stop them from lying on the damp soil; they will soon turn green again. If they are still standing, give them a cane and a loose loop of string to stop the wind from breaking them.

stephen.anderton@thetimes.co.uk

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