january 2005

In the Sunday Independant of the 16th, Christopher Stocks describes the garden as at its lowest ebb with the predominant colour being brown: brown soil and the dry stems of last year's plants. A time to reflect (paraphrased from p.48).
Maybe this garden is at its lowest ebb, but everywhere I look things are happening, buds are fat and ready to burst on many plants, some plants just do not seem to have had any dormancy at all. The major regret I have that I can really only enjoy this on Sundays, every other day I work and get home in darkness.
The weather still seems to be in the same mode, dull and very variable, sometimes stormy and wet or quiet. One day it is wonderfully mild (such as over the weekend 14th to the 16th) with temperatures up to 13°C or such as today (17th) miserably cold and windy. Only on the afternoon of Sunday the 16th did the sun come out which allowed reasonable light levels for photography. Is this the phenomenon of 'global dimming'?
On Saturday the 15th, the larger lower pool near the house was full of croaking, noisy frogs, but no spawn as yet. Birds are eating the peanuts and suet balls at a tremendous rate; the suet balls have to be replaced every two days (24 ). Tits, nuthatches and spotted woodpecker are regular visitors. Starlings have decided to roost in the large sycamore in the field opposite (about 100 yards away from the house) with the resulting din at night, this started about a month ago and the colony consists of well over 1000 individuals.
Snowdrops started to flower on the 1st and most of the clumps are out by now (18th)- a wonderful sight, the true harbinger of Spring. Crocus tommasinianus and it's varieties and C. vernus have flowers out but do not really open due to the low light intensities. Leaves of Ranunculus ficaria are prominent through the lawn section together with Primula veris. Daphne bhuola 'Jaqueline Postill', Hamamelis mollis 'Pallida' and Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’ are at their best and the scent - how can I describe this? Wafts fill the back patio during still periods even at night. Acacia melanoxylon is full of flower buds and now has a few flowering (18th). Helleborus niger ‘White Magic’ is in full flower as is H. argutifolius. The genus Helleborus is very popular with honey bees as it's species have huge nectaries. Echium candicans has its candelabra shaped buds almost ready to flower even though some of the leaves have been affected by frost. Tetrapanax papyrifera is still with us and Parochetus communis continues to flower. One bulb which has not stopped flowering all through the winter is Ipheion uniflorum, pale frosty blue in all its glory. Did someone say that the garden is 'dead' this time of the year? On the 17th there was snow on the local mountains above 1000 feet, the following day, mild, wet and very windy. On the 20th it has done nothing but rain and the rivers nearby are bursting their banks. It was only on the 16th in the afternoon that the sun shone for a few hours and allowed some photography (below), but no time for planting or maintenance.