Winter has arrived

Last week it was much colder, as winter started to make itself felt.  Above is Clematis Wyevale looking beautifully statuesque with a dusting of frost.  

As we were going into the city centre, we were stopped in our tracks by these amazing icy spiders' webs. 

They look so beautiful.

I can't remember ever seeing something similar, although it could be I just wasn't looking!

These are all at the front of the house, along the railings.

Aren't they incredible?

Then on Sunday morning, this is what greeted us.

Even with the frost, ice and snow, this salvia, Cerro Potosi, still had a flower.

The winter flowering jasmine was also braving the temperatures.

I also found two raspberries - one was eaten before I took the photo - and they still tasted good!

Winter frosts

Having been thoroughly spoiled by having such a lovely mild Autumn, the sudden return to more season appropriate weather has caught us by surprise.  While it isn't that cold in the UK compared to other countries (such as Canada), it certainly feels cold to me.  We have had our first frosts of the winter and the cold weather looks set to continue for the next week.  Above are a salvia and a palm.

I was slow with my pot insulating this year, lulled into a false sense of security.  Last week saw some frantic activity to get the most sensitive plants protected.  Above is a rose bush.

Another rose bush, this time in the border.  The frost does make everything look that little bit more magical.

Another rose bush.

We have been having some work done on our roof and guttering - "Who told you about guttering?"(for my friend Rachael and any other Victoria Wood fans out there) and I have had to move the plants that are usually by the back door onto the patio.  They are not sheltered so much there and I am not sure some of them will come out of the temporary move unscathed. Above is Magnolia Fairy Blush, one of those plants.  I hope they will all be OK until they can be moved back...

Nearly...but not quite...Spring

We have been very lucky with the weather during the last two weeks in March. My little standard cherry (Prunus incisa Kojo-no-mai) has looked lovely. It lived up to its name which means 'Flight of the Butterflies'.

Here it is, flowering away.  It is a little difficult to see without a dark backdrop - I have pruned the buddleia which is behind it. 

Lovely primroses have been showing their faces in the border...

...even if they have been nibbled by something, they are still lovely.

An unnamed pink camellia has been flowering really well.

It has been the best ever, well, it was.  It is a little more brown now.

There was one flower on the other unnamed camellia.  I am pleased I took the photos when I did because everything is looking rather more brown and frosted now.  We are in a cold snap with minus temperatures at night and Winter is back in charge.  Certainly not that cold compared to other places in the World, but a shock to the system after the last two weeks. This is sometimes the case, but with our drier and brighter Springs over the last couple of years, it is easy to forget that Winter can come back in April.  I remember a holiday in Oxfordshire during April when I was younger and we visited Rousham gardens (a fabulous place) accompanied by hail and snow - a bit like yesterday.   It is due to warm up a bit next week, so hopefully the Spring flowers can continue without too much disruption.

Happy New Year 2021

(Big Ben at midnight off the TV)

 Well, after the year we have all had, it is good to welcome a new one and hopefully, a better one. Photos below are from the frosty garden yesterday morning.

As has become a tradition for me with the first post of the new year, I will review my aims for last year and think about ones for this year.

Read interesting books 

 I have continued this but haven't read so many books this year.  I think this is partly because I have been working from home and haven't used my lunch hours for reading, which I do when I am at work.  Some of the highlights have been: 'All that remains: a life in death' by Sue Black; 'Fifty Fifty' by Steven Cavanagh; 'The Thursday Murder Club' by Richard Osman; 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' and 'The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy' by Rachel Joyce and re-reading some old friends such as Miss Marple.  I have a stack of books I really need to sit down and read, so they will be my first aim.

Be Creative (using what I have) 

 I have continued my creative journey into art journaling and mixed media and successfully completed my ATC challenge.  I have also signed up to a year long art journaling mixed media course which starts now.  I have bought new stamps and dies, which I just had to have, but have now realised that I don't have the storage for any more, so from now on, it needs to be 'one in, one out'.  I really don't need any more, but no doubt will see something I just have to get...  

I haven't done much sewing this year (except for face masks) and still need to make those two pinafore dresses.  I also haven't yet attempted sewing with stretch fabric, so that would be a good aim too.

Get rid of or donate things I do not want or need 

I did get rid of a few bits and pieces to charity shops when they were open during the year, but I have a long way to go.  I do have too much stuff and could do with emptying everything out of a room and then only putting back what I actually want, but unfortunately, there isn't the space for that.  I must try to make more of a concerted effort on this one over the next year.

Take more notice of nature

Like many people this year, I have been so grateful for my little garden. Sitting out there has given me much pleasure.  I love gardening, so am attuned to the changing seasons but I need to be much more aware of nature and its joys and not take them for granted.  I bought a few new plants last year and will enjoy seeing them grow and flourish.  I have a few more in mind for 2021, but need to remember my lack of space in the garden too.  I also need to give some established plants more TLC and repot a few.

There we are.  Lots of good things from last year, a few not managed, but there's always this year to try again.  I hope that 2021 will prove to be an encouraging and hopeful year for us all.

First frost of the winter

It had to happen, didn't it?  We had the first frost of the winter this week.  I went out with my camera to capture these images before the sun melted it.  I was reminded that I haven't finished insulating my pots yet, so I do need to get on with that job.  Above is Hydrangea Annabelle, who often features throughout the year.

 Rose Gertrude Jekyll looking as though someone has sprinkled the leaves with icing sugar.

 The blueberries also looked lovely.

 Here's Annabelle again.

 This is Aster Little Carlow looking really quite graceful with frost on every dead flower.

 With the colder weather, I have been rewarded by this amazing colour display by Lysimachia Clethroides.  I bought it after watching Carol Klein extolling its virtues on the Chelsea coverage (I think, but it may have been Tatton Park or Hampton Court as I watched all of the Show coverage this year).  It has been in its pot since I bought it, putting on a bit of growth, with lovely green leaves and then this happened.

It is amazing and the colour zings out, particularly on a dull November day.

I am really impressed with it and am looking forward to seeing it grow next year and possibly flower.  It has long white flower heads which droop over, so it sounds interesting.  Apparently, it can be invasive but I am hoping it will be happy in a pot. (I have just been comparing this plant with photos on websites and the leaves of this one look a bit different from the ones on the websites although the descriptions of autumn colour sounds right.  We shall see...) 
I have also possibly done completely the wrong thing and pruned my hibiscus syriacus oiseau bleu pretty viciously.  It was getting too big and leaning madly over the border in a drunken fashion.  I love this plant so am hoping that I haven't killed it, but I will just have to wait and see on that as well.  My pruning book said they can be pruned during their dormant period and it is dormant, but I think I may have got a bit lopper-happy!  If the worst happens and I have killed it, I will be buying a replacement and will try to keep that one more under control.)  It's all part of the joys of gardening!

A Frosty (but magical) Start

It has been quite frosty recently and some of the plants in the garden looked quite photogenic with a sprinkling of sparkle.  Above is a rose.

 The flower heads of an aster looked as though they had been dusted with icing sugar.

The two Blueberries, Blue Pearl, are hanging on to their leaves.

 A miscanthus looked ethereal with its flowers highlighted.

I have mislaid the label for this one, so am not sure which it is (Ferner Osten? Kleine Fontane?), but it stands beautifully upright.

 Hydrangea arborescens Annabelle looks lovely most of the time...

...in winter, the flower heads show lovely variations in tones of sepia...

...and look almost magical with the frost on them.

Brrr!

 This was Boxing Day night, when the snow started to fall...and fall.  By the following morning, a lot of it had gone but we were left with the slush and the cold.  It's not the cold of Canada, but after quite a warm and mild autumn, it is a shock to the system.  I don't really like the snow as it causes so much trouble, but it is beautiful to look at.

 This morning it was really frosty, although it did give me the opportunity to take more photos in the garden. (They are a little blurry, but you get the idea!)

 Hydrangea Arborescens Annabelle...

 ...Hart's Tongue Fern...

 ...Penstemon...

 ...the blackened and frosted flowers of an aster

 ...and the black leaves of Ophiopogon planiscapens nigrescens - Black Lily turf - which look wonderful with a frosty outline.

On a positive note, this little primrose is trying to flower - probably a couple of months early!