THE WEATHER -

A mild start to the month, but with heavy rain and gales on the 1st and 2nd. Becoming colder as the week progressed, with the wind coming down from the north. A milder period followed, with very sunny days, making it very pleasant indeed! However, by the 17th, it became very cold again, with a strong northerly wind and the worst frost of the winter so far overnight. Temperatures failing to get above zero on the 18th, but warming up gradually over the next week and remaining relatively mild. However, after a mild Christmas period, it turned extremely cold with the coldest December day for years on the 29th, and an overnight temperature of minus 8 °C. Temperatures remaining well below zero all day, and thick ice on the pond. Yuk - I HATE this cold weather!! The cold will have made mincemeat of most of my "exotic" plants which normally come through our winters relatively unscathed. Most will stand temperatures of minus 5 or 6°C for short periods, but less than that is bad news...... Snow overnight on the 29th, but warmer temperatures and heavy rain coming in on the 30th soon melted it. A lovely day on the 31st, mild with pleasant sunny periods. Managed to do some tidying up in the garden! Maximum temperature 12°C (54°F). Minimum temperature minus 8°C (16°F).

In the conservatory, a very interesting plant is Chlorophytum "Green-Orange". This is the same family as the ubiquitous Spider Plant (Chlorophytum comosum), but couldn't look more different! This plant has broad green leaves with surprisingly orange stems! My plant hasn't flowered yet, but as the foliage looks nothing like the Spider Plant, then I assume it must be the flowers that look like it! The plant needs warm conditions with good light, but not direct sunlight, in order to give its best. If the temperature falls below around 50° Fahrenheit (10° Celsius), then the plant's leaves start to turn black - not a pretty sight!

Still in the conservatory, the lovely Peace Lily or White Sails, botanically known as Spathiphyllum wallisii, is in flower still. I have two plants of this, one large, and the other very large! Bothhave been in flower since around August. Like the Chlorophytum featured above, this likes good light but not direct sunlight. However, Spathiphyllum can stand much lower temperatures than the Chlorophytum.

Out in the garden, I noticed that although there aren't many plants in flower now, mostly due to the bad frosts we had very early on in the month which killed many of the late flowerers, there are still some interesting seed heads. The ones pictured belong to a dwarf Astilbe, called Astilbe chinensis. This flowers late in the year, and the purple spikes turn to a lovely rusty brown, keeping their shape and form very well.

Another plant which forms lovely seed heads is the Miscanthus. This a type of grass which varies in height and flower colour according to the variety grown. However, it doesn't matter which type you grow, they all produce these lovely seed heads which are beautiful in the sunlight. When cut, they make good additions to an everlasting flower arrangement. The stems die off in the winter, and need to be cut back, but new growth soon emerges again in spring and forms a lovely clump which will go on to produce flowers any time from August to October, depending on the variety.

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, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

THE SNOWS
Augusta Webster