The beginning of March began extremely cold, and stayed that way for the first four days. By the 5th though, the ice on the pool had begun to melt as the temperature rose. I was just thinking that we hadn't had any March winds, when on the 16th it blew a real gale, a freezing cold north-easterly, and this was followed on the 17th and 18th with snow, which quickly melted, and snow again on the 21st accompanied by a bitterly cold wind. The 22nd was much warmer, with an hour or two of sunshine but on the 23rd, it rained for the entire day! It was so much warmer though, and quite pleasant to be outside! Cold weather again until the 30th, which was a beautiful day, and the warmest yet. Managed to do some gardening at last! Minimum temperature in the garden this month: minus 3°C (27°F). Maximum temperature: 15°C (60°F).

I saw the first two large bumble bees buzzing about on the 7th March, and on the 9th March, the first smooth newt appeared in the pool. These are the common newts, but I love to see them swimming in the pool. On the 12th, the first frogspawn appeared in the pool. This is a coincidence, as the frogspawn appeared in the pool on exactly the same date last year! I must take some of it out and put it into another place because the fish seem to eat every tadpole as it hatches. Frogs are becoming increasingly rare, so I need to save as many taddies as I can.

Hmmm.... my New Year's resolution about not buying any more plants unless I have room for them has already been broken! Oh well.. it lasted two months anyway. A trip to the garden centre (or was it three garden centres?!) forced me to buy a few plants which I couldn't resist! These were Stachyurus praecox (pictured right), a lovely spring flowering shrub; Senecio bidwillii, with small oval leathery leaves, rimmed silver; Cornus mas variegata, another spring flowerer with small puffs of yellow flowers along bare stems, and yellow variegated foliage later; Cornus florida 'Rainbow' with typical flat cornus-type flowers and variegated leaves; two more Heucheras (my favourites!) 'Silver Indiana' and 'Crimson Curls'; two more Bergenias, 'Abendglut' and 'Overture', both of which have reddish leaves in winter; and Sedum purdeyi 'Purple Emperor' with lovely purple leaves and deep red flowers.

One usually associates red berries with autumn and winter, but Aucuba japonica 'Crotonifolia', a female form of Aucuba, produces its ripe berries in spring. Although the berries are there in autumn, they are green, and cannot be seen too well amongst the variegated foliage. By March, though, they stand out and are a real feature. For a while, the plant has both chocolate coloured flowers and berries. With its lovely bright evergreen foliage as well, that's what I call a good value plant!

I love Hellebores! They are so lovely at this time of year, with their nodding flowers and lovely colours. I always promise myself every year to buy some of those lovely double ones, but I'm always too late! Never mind, those above are in full flower in the garden now, so maybe next year....

Another pretty plant in full flower now is Pulmonaria saccharata. Although it can become troublesome by seeding itself about with abandon, I wouldn't be without it for its lovely blue-mauve flowers, which turn pink as they age, and its lovely silver spotted foliage. There's always someone who wants a few seedlings, so it's not much bother to dig them up and pass them on - it's what gardening's all about! The picture on the right shows these pretty flowers, with their hairy calyces.

A comparison of the table of plants in flower in the garden in March this year (below), with the same time last year, (see last year's table HERE) will show that there are far fewer plants in flower this year. This has to be because of the prolonged winter we seem to have had, with so many cold, dull days. I haven't seen a single butterfly yet, either, and last March I had seen 3 types. Last year, spring seemed to come much earlier! I can't wait for it to come now.... STILL no sign of the smell of spring - that tells me that we haven't finished with the snow and frost yet!

The main purpose of March is to use up all the bad weather that would not fit into February.
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