It is a while since I have updated this blog, but the weather has been such that I have been able to very little in the garden.

I see some of the bulbs I planted towards the end of 2008 have managed to push up through the snow. Penstemon in the top bed are looking very healthy and have quite a few new shoots. I never cut my penstemon back until after the worst of the winter weather. I know most of the books say to do it after flowering but they seem to do better for me if I leave them until the spring.

Whilst the ground has been covered in snow the birds have been feasting on any berries they can find in the garden. I think most berry carrying shrubs have now been stripped.

Mahonia Charity is heavy with flowers but they seem very reluctant to open fully.

With the garden mostly covered by snow, it has been great to have the amaryllis in flower in the house.

This was the first to flower. A lovely orange red. Just the one stem with 4 super blooms.

The second one to bloom was this gorgeous red and white one. It has two stems, the first produce 4 enormous blooms and the second bud is now opening and would seem to have another 4 flowers.

The last one has only produced one stem with just two blooms but the flowers are such a beatiful colour, creamy white, with a green throat and pale pink tips to the petals.

One of my orchids is in bud and the buds are getting bigger by the day so hopefully this will be well in flower by the time the amaryllis have finished flowering.

It has become much milder and the snow is thawing so hopefully some real gardening will begin soon.

Winter Wonderland

There was a heavy hoar frost last night. When I got up (not at the crack of dawn, I must confess) Everything was white and the trees, both in the garden and round and about, looked as if they had their decorations on.

It was sunny and our resident blackbird was singing his heart out at the top of his favourite tree at the bottom of the garden.

The thing that always intruges me is the cobwebs when it is really frosty.
Here are a couple of photos of webs this morning. I am sure I could have found better ones to photograph had I been prepared to mooch about the garden but it was way too cold out there for me. My OH took the ones I have used here.



I do wish it would warm up a little, just so I could make a real start on the garden. It would be nice to be able to work out there for more than 10 minutes at a time, without having to come in for a warm.

Compost Bins

Not much to report today. I didn't do anything much in the garden other than pick up some leaves. It looked like a really nice day, but it was bitterly cold and breathing in such cold air does not do much to keep my asthma under comtrol.

It is supposed to be getting milder from tomorrow, but it rather looks as if the milder temperature will bring rain in it's wake. I think winter rain is marginally worse than cold, frosty weather.

I have had vermin of some sort in my one compost bin. I only put garden waste and vegetable/fruit parings in there, by way of green waste. Shredded paper/soft cardboard and newspaper for brown waste. Never any cooked food, bread or such like. Judging by the mess left round the base of the bin, it looks as if it is the shredded paper they are after, presumably for bedding.

This is my first attempt with compost bins. I have two shaped like large Daleks. I placed them on small guage wire mesh thinking this would keep awayany "critters" but the little devils have found a way in.

I notice that my main bin used to be about 75% full but now seems to be less than 50% full. I don't know if this is because it takes up a lot less space as it rots down, or because the vermin are taking a lot out of it. Probably a combination of both.

I do hope my compost turns out alright as I am relying on it to help revitalise and area of perennial border which is is very poor soil.

A House Plant Day

It was much milder today, but not a nice day. I had resolved to do at least one task in the garden each day, whatever the weather. I went out intending to empty last summer's hanging baskets and add the contents to the compost bin. It started sleeting, heavily and I was slipping and sliding on the wet, icy grass, so I abandoned that task for today. My resolution broken already. Oh dear. Not a good start.

I tried to make amends by attending to my house plants instead. Not that they actually needed much attention apart for ensuring they were not dry. I took a few photos. The first is a cymbidium orchid which has been in flower now for 4 months and has never had less than 14 blooms at any one time.
I bought this plant at a farmers/growers market for £5. I think I have certainly had my money's worth from it. I bought another one at the same time, for the same price. It had just 4 flowers and they only lasted about 10 weeks, but the plant is still healthy and has now sent our three promising looking flower shoots so I am hopeful for this one. It is an exceptionally pretty one. I took this picture a while ago, when I first got the plant.
I am very fond of miniature roses; the ones that can be bought quite cheaply in supermarkets, motorway services and street markets. I usually keep them as houseplants for their first flush of flowers then I split them (the pots almost always contain at leat three plants) and use them in patio pots throughout the summer. When they outgrow the pots, after a few years, I plant them into the garden.

I have a pink one and a red one in the house at present. Both are looking nice.
These are the only houseplants I have in flower at the moment. I have two orchids on an upstairs windowsill. Neither of them is flowering. I think one is on it's way out. It never was very vigorous. The other one is large and healthy with a nice big shoot. I have managed to flower it twice now and I am confident it will flower again.

I have three amaryllis with big full buds on. I will take photos of these when the flowers come out. I have three other amaryllis which I dried off and forgot to start off again. They are outside. I'll try and do something with those tomorrow.

The temperature has dropped now and it is starting to freeze again. There is snow on the verges of the road, but the centre was very wet a while ago, so imagine it will be icy now. I am glad I have no plans to go out this evening.

6th January, 2009

I would have hoped to have made a start on my gardening by now but it is sooo cold. The ground hasn't thawed for days and I can barely get the tips of the fork into the earth.

Despite that, my wilderness is not devoid of life and colour. The Echeveria pictured is in a tub outside the back door and seems none the worse for the freezing conditions.

The little heuchera is frozen solid but adds a lovely splash of colour to a border where nearly everything else is dormant.

The Eleagnus always provides a welcome bit of colour. The one pictured is in a container in the back yard, but there is another, bigger one in a shrub border halfway down the garden. It is too cold to traipse down there take a photo of that one.

One of my favourite shrubs for winter colour is the Mahonia, Charity. Ours is usually in full flower by Christmas, but this year, although it has been flowering since early December, the flowers are slow to come out.

I have saved the brightest and best for last. This beautiful cotoneaster,

not only provides a sight for jaded winter eyes, with its bright berries and colourful leaves, it also provides a tasty meal for our resident blackbirds who have now totally stripped the pyracantha and other varieties of cotoneaster of berries.

There is not much else worth taking photos of at present. My lawns all look like this:Long grass, moss, fallen leaves and snow/frost. It makes a lovely crunchie sound when I walk on it.

Before I say goodnight I would like to share with you a picture of the sunset which I took out by the gate at 4.30 pm. Guess you could say that nature had saved the best for last.