THE WEATHER -

A very cold start for the first three weeks of the month, with a cold northerly wind, snow showers during the first week, and frost at night. Becoming very mild for the time of year by the last week of the month though, with a super high of 15°C on the 27th, and lovely, spring-like weather! Actually no rain for two whole weeks - the first time since last October - until the 28th, when we had heavy rain all afternoon and into the evening. Maximum temperature 15°C (60°F), minimum temperature minus 5°C (24°F).

Last month, I featured Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna, and this month, it's the turn of Sarcococca humilis. This is also an evergreen shrub, but much lower growing. It has small creamy-white flower buds with red tips, which are very attractive, and these finally open into fluffy flowers, very similar to S. hookeriana var. digyna. Some people say that this plant has as strong a scent as S. hookeriana var. digyna, but I just can't smell it at all! I've tried smelling it at different times of the day, but it makes no difference - it has no scent that I can discern! I was rather disappointed to find this out after I bought the plant recently, as I thought it would have a strong scent. However, its flowers make up for its lack of scent I think, as flowers at this time of year are at a premium.

A very sweet little plant in flower at the moment is Hepatica nobilis. I love the colour of these flowers, which appear before the foliage. A drift of these in the spring garden is a sight to see, and I'm hoping that mine will soon spread to form a carpet of flowers in a few years' time!

Eranthis hyemalis, the Winter Aconite, is just appearing in the garden, pushing its bright and cheery little buttercup-like flowers through the bare earth and old Oak leaves. These will be followed by glossy green leaves later on. I've tried to grow these on several occasions in the past, buying the tubers in packets in autumn. Unfortunately, they have never appeared in spring. Now I know the secret of success with these! Last year, I was able to buy some already in flower in pots (in the green, as it's known). Having planted them out, they have now appeared again this year. It's obvious that, like Snowdrops, they don't do well once the bulb has dried out, and need to be planted in the green. I've looked everywhere for some more this year, but no one seems to have any for sale. Oh well, with a bit of luck, the ones I have already will spread steadily to give me lots of new plants in years to come.

A colourful sight is provided by clumps of Cyclamen coum. These flower after C. hederifolium, and give a welcome continuation of flowers. I have this in pink (pictured here), and also white. I love the foliage on these, which is quite leathery, and marbled with silver. Each plant has different variegations, so there's always something different. The foliage lasts well in flower arrangements too, which is a bonus!

Another lovely spring-flowerer is Anemone blanda. This has lots of beautiful blue daisy-like flowers, which appear before the ferny foliage. I grow this with Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis), Cyclamen coum and Eranthis hyemalis, and the colourful effect of all these in flower at the same time is a sight to behold on a cold, miserable day!

Although we tend to look to foliage and flowers for interest at this time of year, colourful stems shouldn't be ignored! These stems belong to Rubus cockburnianus 'Golden Vale', a relative of our native bramble or blackberry. In this case, however, the strong stems are covered in a white bloom, (as well as hundreds of spines), and when this gets rubbed off, the deep maroon colour shines through. As an added bonus, this particular variety has golden, ferny leaves. Being a bramble relative though, it needs to be sited where it will be allowed to spread and sucker, in order to benefit from these stunning stems in the winter.

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

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