Now don't get me wrong...I know we are getting off *much* more lightly than many of my friends at home - in West Wales, Dorset, Somerset, all along the south coast - and in the USA, where the Arctic is throwing itself around...but really!! We have had a soggy bottom (of the garden) for weeks now - and a river running past the door, and now it is time for Something Else!
Look at the poor old back garden here at the cottage...(I am too ashamed to show you the wreck of a front garden - which will be 'The Summer project'!)
Dishevelled and in disarray after the wind, rain and hail like marbles (the recent deluge only five minutes ago) - it is far, far too wet to walk on the grass or the beds to do much cleaning up between the torrents.
And yet... for all the chaos, it has also been extremely mild for the time of the year. As a result, eveything is green and growing - fast. So here are some more pleasing things to look upon - each picture carrying the evidence of the fact that the year has turned and the promise of the longer, brighter, warmer days to come. Use your imagination and conjure up your optimism to get through the next couple of months. Spring really *is* on the way, even if we have to wait a little while!
Ferns, sheltering on the patio - normally died-back and brown at this time of the year
Flourishing miniature golden Cypress
The always-early and always-welcome greens of the hellebores in the bottom bed
A fat bud waiting to burst on a rhododendron
Something nice to look out on in the darker days of winter - evergreens in planters and pots and pots of bulbs - all starting to poke through and bringing springtime with them...
...meanwhile, at the very sheltered bottom of the garden - daffodils up six and eight inches, one even with a fully formed bud. This is ridiculous!
And for those that are struggling in the wind and the rain...given this day their daily bread...and cheese...and seeds and nuts. And plenty more where all that came from, too!
No, no, no, Roz. This is not a "poor old back garden." This is Eden as Nature intended her. When you trim here and there, you create welcome room for humanity. I love your spot on Earth.
Posted by: Anthony V. Toscano | Tuesday, January 07, 2014 at 15:46
Yes, spring is on the way, absolutely! And happy New Year!
Posted by: Gracie | Tuesday, January 07, 2014 at 15:56
Beautiful in my eyes!
Posted by: Jamie | Tuesday, January 07, 2014 at 17:17
Your back garden looks much like mine, minus the daffodils. It's mild, here, on the west side of the Rockies. And not as wet as the UK. Our winter is sputtering along pretty much as normal, although it's too soon to assume that will continue.
Stay dry and warm!
Posted by: Lorrie | Tuesday, January 07, 2014 at 18:36
Its an enchanted garden to me, Roz! I love gardens in all seasons but your spring ferns and pots with green warmed me on this cold Arctic like day in Pa. So nice to see the bird feeders too.
Posted by: avis | Tuesday, January 07, 2014 at 20:22