Very unusual weather. We’ve gone from 4” of snow, to night time temperatures of between -7’C to -10’C, and towards the end of the month there have been daytime highs of up to 18’C! Poor plants, they’re all over the place!
Walking round the garden today I find so many plants waking up from their winter hibernation and showing that Spring is on its way. There are the shoots of perennials becoming visible, fat buds on the roses, hydrangeas, clematis and honeysuckle. The Tete a Tete’s are just coming out adding to the colour from the hellebores, snowdrops, crocus and iris, as well as the first primroses.
I have just about finished the pruning; the roses are all done, as are the clematis and Buddleia’s. Still need to finish collecting up all the winter debris though, particularly in the lower garden. Most of the top garden has been cleared and mulched with a mixture of compost, leaf mould and well rotted horse manure, and is looking quite tidy... except where the blackbirds have had great fun with the mulch which they throw out onto the lawn!