THE WEATHER -

A miserable start to the month, with heavy rain for the entire day on December 1st. Brightening up a bit for the next few days, with very mild weather. Becoming much colder by the 6th though, with a cold northerly wind. Alternating between mild and very cold weather throughout the month, with plenty of frost overnight! Christmas day was very mild, with light showers in the evening. Boxing day remained mild, with light showers for most of the day. Becoming very much colder by the 28th though, with the first snow shower of the winter. Remaining very cold for the rest of the month, with more snow on the 30th and temperatures struggling to rise above zero. Maximum temperature 12°C (56°F). Minimum temperature minus 4°C (25°F).

Many shrubs or trees are valuable not just for their leaves or flowers, but for their vibrant coloured bark. One such plant is Acer palmatum "Senkaki". My plant is around 20 years old now, and has grown into a shapely tree of around 10 or 12 feet in height. The attraction at this time of year is the wonderfully bright red younger growth, which positively glows in the winter sunshine. Apart from this, the plant exhibits lovely spring and autumn colouring in its leaves. This is definitely one plant I couldn't do without in the garden!

Jasminum nudiflorum (Winter Jasmine) is in full flower now, with its lovely yellow flowers along bare bright green branches. This is a climbing plant which needs the support of wires or a trellis, as it is not self-clinging. Apart from the cheerful colouring of its flowers, this plant also smells divine!

One plant I couldn't be without as a flower arranger is Mahonia japonica (Oregon Grape). This is an evergreen shrub with very spiky, leathery leaves. It flowers any time from November until around February, depending on the shelter of its situation. Like many winter-flowering plants, it is strongly scented. The flowers shoot out in long racemes from the tops of the branches, and what fascinates me is that every individual little flower in each raceme looks exactly like a minute daffodil! The flowers are followed later by groups of drooping blue-black berries which are covered with a wonderful bloom.

My Viburnum bodnantense "Dawn" has been wonderful this year. Most years it produces flowers, but these have up until now been quite sparse. However, this year, for reasons known only to itself, (but linked with the hot, dry summer we have experienced this year, I suspect), it is simply covered with wonderfully scented pink flowers. One sprig of these will scent an entire room.

Viburnum tinus is a commonly grown shrub, with evergreen leaves. However, at this time of year, it becomes an outstanding plant because of its beautifully scented pink-tinged flowers. The plant also produces the most unusually coloured berries, a metallic blue colour, which persist right through the year, and are often to be seen on the plant at the same time as the flowers. The birds are not fond of the berries, so the plant looks stunning for many months.

Pyracantha (Firethorn) is often grown as an evergreen wall-covering shrub, and it can be clipped into shape, although it can also be grown as a free-standing shrub. It has pretty white flowers in late spring or summer, but its main attraction is in autumn and winter, when it produces masses of colourful berries, in shades of red, orange or yellow. There can be fewer more colourful sights on a dull winter's day than a shrub such as this covered in berries. The birds tend to leave the berries alone until the weather is really bad, so the shrub remains colourful for a long time. Pictured above are two different shrubs - on the left, a red-berried variety "Mohave", and on the right, an orange-berried type, "Orange Glow" .

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening - and a Happy New Year!!

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Kingfisher (first sighting since around 1983), Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

THE SNOWS
Augusta Webster