THE WEATHER -

Wet and miserable for the first few days (just a continuation of November weather, really!), but the 5th was a beautiful day, clear and bright. However, back to normal the following day! On the 8th, a cold easterly wind got up, although it was still dull. On the 9th, the sun shone all day, but the east wind strengthened, making it easily the coldest day of the winter so far. The weather warmed up a bit by the 12th - when we had a light covering of snow!! Mixed weather for the rest of the month, varying from sunny but very cold days, and frost at night, to relatively warm for the time of year, but dull with showers! Maximum temperature this month, 12°C (54°F), and minimum temperature minus 3°C (28°F).

I have several Holly bushes in the garden, some plain green, and some with various types of variegation. Some of them I have had for years, but none of them have ever produced berries - until now! I thought that I must have all male plants, because although the hollies seem to flower OK each year, no berries were ever produced. This year, though, almost every Holly in the garden has produced berries - so they must be females after all! I'm not sure why they have chosen this year to produce berries for the first time - although I have heard other people remark on this phenomenon in their own garden, so it must be something to do with the weather we have experienced this year, I think! The Holly pictured is a small tree now, and I can't even remember where I got it from. I'm sure I didn't buy it, so it must have been a seedling which someone gave me. What a surprise though, to see that it has yellow berries! All the red-berried plants have been stripped bare now by the birds, but this one still has plenty of berries left.

Coloured bark is one of the staples of the winter garden, and this Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' has lovely bark, which glows in the late afternoon sun. It has a mixture of red, pink and yellow branches, making it very decorative. I shall enjoy the colour of the bark over the winter, but cut it hard back in the spring, so that it will produce lots of lovely new growth, which I will be able to enjoy next winter! (I can use the prunings in a flower arrangement, no doubt!)

This is Clematis cirrhosa 'Wisley Cream', a lovely evergreen Clematis which is scrambling through a variegated Griselinia littoralis, planted against the south-facing wall of the house. I bought it about two years ago, when it was in flower, but it never flowered at all last year. However, I think it has got its roots established now, and is flowering away madly! On reflection, I wish I had planted it through a plain green shrub, or a deciduous one, as I think the flowers and foliage would have shown up much better! Oh well - gardening is all about making mistakes, and hopefully, learning from them!!

Because the weather has been relatively mild so far this winter, with no frost at all last month, this lovely Persicaria 'Red Dragon' has decided it must be spring, and has thrown up these lovely stout new shoots! What a pity it will eventually get cut back by frost, and have to start all over again. I love this plant, which is a fairly recent introduction in the last few years. Its flowers aren't very showy, being small clusters of cream on the end of the stems, but the foliage is stunning, with deep maroon leaves marked with a silver chevron in the centre, and blood-red stems. How could you not love it? A relative of the dreaded Japanese Knotweed (which I think is a stunning plant, notwithstanding its thuggish tendencies!), this plant is much better behaved!

I'm surprised to see that the smaller of two clumps of Zantedeschia aethiopica still has a single flower in bloom. This particular plant was a "reduced to clear" plant which I bought at Tesco's in May. It was in the houseplants section, and had practically finished flowering and was looking quite sorry for itself when I bought it. I planted it beside the little pond on the patio, and it went from strength to strength, producing another crop of flowers about a month later. This flower is a latecomer, but is so lovely, and even though it has been battered by constant rain, and bent almost double under the frost, it has sprung up again as soon as it has thawed out. I really love the purity of form and colour of these flowers.

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening!!

Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Jay, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

THE PROMISE
Patience Strong

I dreamed my garden was a-flame with flowers of every hue -
With Jonquils and with Crocus cups in ivory and blue -
With daffodils all blowing like a restless golden sea,
and clouds of pale pink blossoms on the little almond tree -
Aubretia blazed in vivid clumps along the mossy wall,
and tumbled down the old grey stones like some blue waterfall -
and gold and amber wallflowers opened to the sun's caress -
My garden flowered from desolation into loveliness....

I woke up - and I looked out of my window in dismay -
I knew it was a dream, for all was dead and cold and grey -
and suddenly a small brown bird hopped on my window sill -
and in that melancholy place he made a little trill -
and something in his happy note set all my heart aglow,
because he sang a promise, and he said "It will be so."