The sun did come out for quite a while on Saturday and what a difference it made to the snowdrops. Those sitting in a pool of sunshine opened their petals wide to any passing bee and I was able to get a record of their markings. I’ll start with G. Jonathan who I was hoping would open his petals for the last post.
There was great excitement we we saw that G. Jonathan had opened up its petals, out I dashed with my camera.
This post is for our daughter Rachael who says that she thinks a snowdrop is a snowdrop is a snowdrop and wonders why I would want to order any more as they are all the same. Sorry my dear, but I’m afraid I have to disagree, there are early ones, mid season ones and late ones, spreading their flowering over 3 or 4 months, more if you count the ones that flower in the autumn. Then there are the markings, so many different ones, some all white, some with all green inners, some with spots, some with green on the outer petals, some tall, some small and of course we mustn’t forget the yellow ones or the doubles! I’m hoping this post might change her mind and explain why I’m so keen to wander round the garden in the cold and wet of January and February!
Galanthus Little John, very tall for a snowdrop.
January is not a month noted for its flowers, but there are quite a few out in the garden here so it is worth going for a wander each day. Lots of bulbs are pushing up, the snowdrops are flowering and so are some iris and narcissus, as well as a couple of shrubs.
Iris reticulata Pauline
This weekend is the Great British Birdwatch when we note down which varieties of birds are coming to our gardens and making a note of the number of each species we see at any one time. Sparrows and starlings used to be among some of our most common birds, but now they are on the red list, sadly neither put in an appearance in the garden here. After filling the feeders up, we sat back and waited.
We didn’t have to wait long, they were all waiting for me to put the food out!
It is cold, it is freezing, so I just popped out very quickly to take some photos for today’s Foliage Day hosted by Christina at My Hesperides Garden. I hope you are warm and safe Christina, after seeing the news about the earthquake and avalanche near you, thank goodness they are still finding people alive. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families caught up in it.
The rose garden is between the house and garage and was the nearest area of foliage to photograph and therefore the quickest, so I could get back into the warm house! In the summer, the rose bushes are billowing everywhere and you can hardly see the box balls for the flowers, but in the winter, they come into their own and form the formal structure of the area.
Buxus sempervirens.
The dreaded snow coming down from the Arctic the other day managed to almost miss us, thank goodness. We woke to just a tiny smattering of snow which soon vanished once the sun rose in the sky, we were so lucky as the rest of the country really suffered. Plants that were flowering looked a bit sorry for a while but soon perked up once more and were fit to be photographed for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.
Just a sprinkling.
Usually flowering by Christmas is Narcissus Rijnveld’s Early Sensation, however it is now making up for lost time with new buds opening each day.
N. Rijnveld’s Early Sensation
While tidying the woodland a few days ago, getting it ready for the snowdrop season, I saw a little sapling of only about 12 inches tall, growing at the side of the path next to some cyclamen
Unknown seedling.
Most of you are writing such wonderful posts of all your achievements in the garden for 2016 and for all your hopes in 2017. I certainly didn’t achieve much last year, the only new bit done was the gravel garden at the back. I couldn’t even keep up with the normal maintenance and have had to get someone to help me sort out the mess that had appeared in all the beds.
Iris unguicularis.
So far between us, we have sorted out half the garden, the beds nearest the house and the ones that we can see from the windows.
Chaenomeles.
The rest will be done soon I hope and hopefully one more border will have a makeover during the summer.
Wild Primrose.
The undergardener is still having chemo, and is not able to do any gardening as the side effects are cumulative and now, even in good weeks, he is very weak and wobbly. His eighth session is tomorrow, 2 more to go after that.
Frosty first thing this morning.
I had a bad reaction to the flu jab they give to us oldies in the autumn and haven’t been very good for quite a number of weeks now, all the muscle pains have returned which does limit how much gardening I can do each day.
Viburnum bodnantense Dawn
It might have been frosty first thing, but now the sun is out and just look at that blue sky, good enough to tempt me out this afternoon and get a little bit of gardening done!
Snowdrops in the woodland.
With all the flowers starting to pop up, the sunshine and the garden are tempting me to be outside once more. If I manage to do a little each day, I’m sure the garden will eventually be back to how I like it.
I wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope that it is a healthier one for both of us here.
Back in touch with the World Wide Web I mean! We suddenly had the plug pulled on us by Talk Talk on 27th November after they told us that we had approached another provider. Not true we said, we have not been in touch with any other provider, doesn’t matter they said, we are cutting you off. It didn’t matter what we said, they just wouldn’t listen and cut us off.
Christmas cactus.
We were then told they would reconnect us on 13th December, we checked with the engineer, they hadn’t received any notification and said it would be the 15th.
Primula.
I don’t know how many phone calls later, the undergardener was speaking to supposedly the chap in charge of Talk Talk, He told us we couldn’t be reconnected as now there was a fault with British Telecom, it would now be 24th December! Too late to wish you all a Happy Christmas as we were away visiting our daughter and family for Christmas.
Cyclamen coum on the front drive.
All the photos for this post were taken on either Christmas Eve or this morning.
Iris unguicularis on the front drive.
Winter Jasmine by the front door.
Snowdrop Mrs McNamara by the front door.
Winter flowering heather by the dead oak.
Mahonia Charity by the dead oak.
Bergenia.
Vibernum bodnantense Dawn
I wonder if these flowers will survive the frost we had last night.
Most of the roses have been cut back now, but Iceberg is still struggling on.
Also Bonica must be cut back soon.
Chaenomeles by the back door.
Snowdrop Midwinter.
Just about showing colour is Hamamelis mollis in the woodland.
Sarcococca also in the woodland.
Cyclamen coum in the woodland, this doesn’t spread anything like as much as C. hederifolium.
Snowdrop Farringdon double, but who has been chewing my label?
Snowdrop Anglesey Abbey, this is an all white one, no inner markings.
Garrya elliptica in the corner of the back garden.
From a distance, I didn’t think the flowers had opened, but on looking closer, I found that lots had.
It is good to be back home once again and in touch with you all, I missed you and it’s going to take me forever to sort out all my e.mails. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and a better internet connection for us!
