A Happy New Year to all! I've made a few New Year's Resolutions:

When there's not much in flower in the garden, the plants in the Conservatory come into their own. I'm no Orchid expert, but I do have several Cymbidiums which flower at this time every year. They don't get any special treatment except repotting now and again with special orchid compost, and they all get to have a holiday in the garden every summer from May to October. I grow other types of Orchid as well, but the others tend to flower in the summer.

One of the plants which always gives pleasure in the garden at this time of year is Garrya elliptica, with its lovely grey catkins. These are beautiful to use in flower arrangements, and they also glycerine well, changing to very dark grey, with black leaves. Stunning! The plant began to form catkins very early last year, around August, and it has been in full flower since December 2000.

The weather for the first half of the month remained around or below zero, day and night, and the pool froze over to a depth of about 1.75 cm. Snow fell on Friday 19th, forming lovely scenes around the garden. After the 21st, the weather slowly began to warm up, and the snow and ice finally melted. The pictures below show the snow on the Cordyline australis, which is on level 2 of the garden, and the Picea pungens which is on level 3.

Age is all in the mind.... The trick is to keep it from creeping down into your body!