THE WEATHER -

Just when I thought spring must be just around the corner, as it's March, we got the coldest night-time temperature of the entire winter on March 2nd (minus 6° C)! This did quite a lot of damage to some half-hardy plants, as well as damaging the new growth which many hardy plants had put on, owing to the mild winter up until then. The very cold wind we have had for the previous 10 days still continued for a couple of days at the beginning of the month, but then the wind finally veered round and blew from the south-east, bringing much milder temperatures, and thawing the frozen ground at last. Sunny but still cold weather for the next few days, but on March 11th, it turned extremely cold again, and very dull all day. On March 12th, winter returned with a vengeance, bringing heavy snowfall, which bowed down the branches of trees and flattened the spring bulbs. However, a thaw set in by lunchtime, and most of the snow had gone by tea time. A very grey day all day though. Continuing dull, but warmer, until the 16th, which was a beautiful warm spring day, and the 17th was similar. Strong gales on the 20th and 21st, mixed with heavy showers on and off for most of the day. Calmer conditions by the 22nd, but remaining chilly, with hail showers. A mild end to the month, however, with warm sunshine and spring-like temperatures on the 30th.

Maximum temperature 14°C (64°F), minimum temperature minus 6°C (24°F).

Just when I thought it was supposed to be spring - look what happened! Winter returned instead! Snow fell on the 12th March, and covered the garden in a white cloak - very pretty, but it did my spring bulbs no good at all, flattening many of them, especially the taller daffodils. You could be forgiven for thinking this is a black and white picture, but the tall blue ceramic bottles in the centre of the picture give the game away as the only bit of colour in the entire scene!

Primroses are so pretty! These little mauve ones are in full flower now, and as I have several groups of them, they give lots of colour in the garden. Do you know the difference between a Primrose and a Polyanthus? Well, although the leaves and individual flowers are very similar, a Primrose has only one flower per stem, with the flowers low-growing, whereas a Polyanthus has sturdier stems, each one carrying several flowers, held well above the foliage.

One of the plants beloved of flower arrangers is Salix sachalinensis 'Sekka', the stag's horn willow. This is a curious plant, with the usual willow-type stems and leaves, but a proportion of the stems are faciated, or flattened, and curve gracefully, hence its common name. When it flowers, the flowers are grouped closely together along the flattened stems, and are very decorative. It's a good idea to prune the shrub hard after flowering, as this will prevent it becoming too big, and will encourage lots of new stag's horn-like stems to grow! Remember not to grow willows of any variety anywhere near your house, or the drains, as they have searching roots which will break through drainage pipes with ease, and foundations hold no fear for them either! Also, they are very thirsty plants, and if you live on clay soil, then willows will dry it out and can cause subsidence to your house foundations.

Daffodils are one of my favourite spring flowers. This little miniature one is called "Rip van Winkle" (but don't ask me why!), and has very double flowers, with no obvious trumpet. I have several groups of these around the garden, grown from different sources, and although the flowers are all the same, they vary somewhat in height, some growing to only 6" or so, and some 2 - 3" taller!

I'm very fond of blue flowers, and another spring flowering bulb which I love to grow is Chionodoxa forbesii. This has spikes of lovely star shaped blue flowers with white centres. They don't mind sun or part-shade - mine grow and flower equally as well in both situations - but they will not flower well in full shade. They spread slowly but surely, and my oldest group of these has become quite large now. I bought some more of these last autumn, to grow in the "new" garden, and these are also flowering away, in spite of my negligence in leaving the bulbs in their packaging in the greenhouse over winter. They had gone quite mouldy on the outside, but I decided to take a chance and plant them anyway. The picture shows that my gamble paid off! Tough little plants or what?

Muscari are plants which people love to hate! I suppose it's because they spread rapidly, and can take over if you're not careful. However, I love them, and have lots of different varieties in the garden. The one pictured is the first to flower usually, and is the common Muscari armeniacum. I've said before that I love blue plants, so I've got little groups of these all around the garden. I even rescued some which someone had dug up and dumped on some ground bordering the local lake (naughty naughty!). They were in bud, and I couldn't just let them die now, could I? The rescued plants have now perked up and are flowering merrily away, as the picture shows.

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

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

GROWTH
Patience Strong

This is the time of growth - of green things bursting into flower
Urged on towards fulfilment by some vast and secret power.......

It is a law that things evolve towards maturity -
The fledgling in the nest, the babe, the puppy and the tree.......

We know that sun and showers of rain assist the flowers to grow -
But how and why do they respond - that's what I'd like to know.......

And so the soul of man must grow from darkness into light -
The real and unseen part of us that's hidden from our sight
Is growing, and shall be revealed beyond the mists of Time -
By pain and struggle it will reach the perfect and sublime.