A Touch of Snow

The end of January reminded us that winter wasn't quite done yet and the frosts returned with a vengeance. Despite the emergence of bulbs we knew we had to survive a few more cold days and nights before spring could really arrive and brighten the grey days.

We managed to have a couple of days away to visit my Uncle at the end of January and checking on the weather we planned to return before the snow hit. In fact we woke the next morning to find that there had been heavy snow all through the night and the woods were adorned. Thank goodness we made it back home before this landed.

I do love how the trees look when they have a covering of snow, so much so in fact that I take lots photos.

The main part of the woods was transformed with a thick layer of snow. We had such a cold spell that the snow stayed for nearly a week and didn't even begin to melt.

There was a thick covering of snow on all the trees and the paths, we could hardly see where the paths had been and we were just hoping that we weren't trampling over all the new sprouting bulbs.

Nearly every year I take photos of the trees across the field in a neighbouring farmers' field, they always seem to catch the light beautifully and especially with the snow they look wonderful.

I think this is one of my favourite pictures.

At least Finn was enjoying the snow.

After the first few grey days the sun appeared and although it was still cold the trees and shrubs looked even more spectacular.

Even Jess was happily running around in the snow.

Daffodil walk looked stunning when the sun shone, the trees were still laden with snow and even some of the bulbs were managing to poke through the snow. I can hardly wait until spring to see if all our planting in the autumn comes to fruition.

There Goes January

Sitting here on a mild and sunny February afternoon the short, dark days of winter do feel a very long way away. In fact we were extremely fortunate to experience really mild weather during the whole of November and December with only a couple of cold and crisp days. At times it was hard to believe that it was Christmas at all. Indeed Christmas came and went in a flash and was closely followed by an unexpected bout of flu. Thankfully I was only ill for a couple of days but I really have not felt so poorly for many years. M skipped the flu and moved straight to a lingering cold. However, I guess it's good to get all the illnesses out of the way at the start of the year.

When the frosts did arrive the woods looked lovely, coated in a fine dusting of white sparkles.

As the greenhouse is unheated I was hoping that our plants would survive the plummeting temperatures, at least they weren't covered in snow!!

The sunrise through the trees always looked wonderful, a little teasing that the winter was speeding past and hopefully spring would be along any time soon.

Winter is always very quiet in the garden, with the ground hard with frost there's not much to be done outside but plan for the year ahead.

We were astounded to see bulbs emerging during December, confirmation of the mild winter we had experienced so far. By the 2nd of January these daffodils were already looking great.

This photo was also taken on the 2nd January and probably the earliest snowdrops we've had here. It was wonderful to see such an early sign of spring.

Even some of the bluebells decided to make an early appearance.

After a serious lack of wood anemone flowers last year I was dubious that they would return and even less convinced that we would have any flowers. It was incredible to spot some tiny anemone plants and with a couple of fine flowers.

  

I never know when exactly the primroses are supposed to flower as we seem to see flowers almost all year round. These beautiful early flowers were brightening up the wild garden which was wonderful as so much else was dormant.

During the autumn I sowed some Red Campion seeds and in January they were just big enough to prick out and pot up into tiny cells to grow on. The tray was from my aunt so this was the first time I had used it and I have to say it was extremely fiddly. However, after a few hours work I had 137 small Red Campion plants!

Even the cuttings from my Aunt's garden seemed to have survived and were starting to show some signs of new growth. As January drew to a close we got a little reminder that winter wasn't quite done with us yet but I'll leave that story for another day.