We woke up to the most amazing sunrise the other morning, it was such a beautiful sight while it lasted but was over so quickly.
Sunrise.
Bits and Pieces.
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Tagged bird cake, birdbath, Birdwatch, hellebores, January bulbs, sunrise
32 Comments
The Single Wildings are now joining in.
Snowdrop time is a wonderful time of year. January wouldn’t normally have me rushing into the garden each morning, too cold, too wet, but plant a few snowdrops and that soon changes. It’s on with the wellies and waterproofs as the”Specials” have been flowering for over a month now, my very first ones are going over, the mid season ones are in full flower and even the supposedly late ones are showing white and will soon be joining the party, they are all a lot earlier this year than previous years. I have been keeping an eye on the single wild ones which normally are in flower for the third weekend in February (if anyone wanted to come and see the snowdrops, that is when they were usually invited), this year though, they have already started flowering, so they are now 3 or 4 weeks earlier than usual. The double wild ones are just starting to open, a little behind the singles.
Growing on the side of the ditch.
Catch up time again.
Garden Bloggers Foliage Day for January passed me by as we didn’t have internet access for 5 days. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or what, but we had a power cut the night before and found we couldn’t use our lap tops the next day. It was finally sorted yesterday, so I will now try to get up to date once more.
The ground is still absolutely sodden with all our rain, so I wasn’t able to go round the garden looking for interesting foliage, however we had a frost, so frosty leaves will have to do instead!
Frosty oak leaf.
Come in from the cold.
I like to have bulbs flowering in the conservatory at this time of year. The conservatory is only kept frost free, with a little heater that keeps the temperature at +5C during the night, during the day it just has to cope by itself!
Conservatory flowers.
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Tagged conservatory plants, Cyclamen, hyacinths, indoor bulbs, Iris reticulata, narcissus, Pelargonium
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It all starts again. GBBD January 2016.
In fact it doesn’t start again, it’s never stopped! Once again though, it is time for GBBD on the 15th of the month and this month has quite a few little beauties flowering at the moment. Until a few days ago the weather has been very mild for well over a month, in fact it seemed as though November had never ended. Now though, temperatures have plummeted, the wind is straight from the North Pole and we have had one or two slight frosts but they don’t seem to have affected any of the flowers so far.
Posted in News
Tagged camellia, Chaenomeles, daphne, hellebores, January bulbs, January flowers, narcissus, primroses, pulmonaria, snowdrops
38 Comments
At least the Woodland is Tidy!
Over a month of rain in December and for the first week of January, has left the woodland looking rather sodden and a bit flooded in places where the water can’t get away.
Standing water.
Thank goodness for self seeding drifts.
Looking back over 2015 has made me realise that we haven’t been able to do much gardening! Unfortunately health problems got in the way with the Undergardener having to go for his Prostate Cancer treatment and all his other hospital appointments. I always went with him for moral support and also to drive him home if he didn’t feel up to it. Thank goodness, the result of his radiotherapy was very promising, although there is still more treatment to come. At the same time, my muscle pain seemed to be getting worse, in spite of medication, but felt that it would have to take a back seat until after Christmas. The result of all this means that we haven’t had the same amount of time to devote to the garden, it’s just as well that it has almost carried on regardless, all by itself!
Posted in News
Tagged bluebells, cowslips, Crocus, Cyclamen, hellebores, meconopsis, narcissus, primrose, self seeding, snakeshead fritillaries, snowdrops
38 Comments
Christmas flowers.
Usually we don’t have many flowers out for Christmas because it is usually a lot colder! Some flowers are still hanging on from autumn and some are opening up far too soon, thanks to the very mild weather we have been having for quite some time now.
Chaenomeles.
By the back door, this beautiful shrub will flower on and off until Spring.
Pauline is flowering.
When I was passing the dining room window a few minutes ago, I noticed a bit of purple on the alpine scree, straight away I knew what it must be – Iris reticulata Pauline was flowering!
Iris reticulata Pauline.
December Flowers 2015.
Most of the flowers in the garden at the moment are ones that usually flower at this time of year, but some are hanging on and just don’t know when to stop. No area has the wow factor at this time of year and I wouldn’t expect it to, it is more a question of searching for the flowers on my daily wander and they are there if I look carefully.
The first flower that I come across is the Chaenomeles, just outside the back door, you can’t miss it. This started flowering last month and will continue on and off all winter, depending on the weather.
Chaenomeles