The Spring walk at the end of February

I have begun to check out the Spring Walk in the hope of seeing some spring flowers beginning.  At present I can’t see any tulip shoots pushing up and as I mentioned before I have seen some evidence of mice but I can’t imagine they’re eaten them all can they?

In a vase on Monday – I’m so happy, happy, happy!

As all of you who know me well, I love tulips!  Last autumn when I was ordering my tulips for the garden I decided to order some to try to force into flower for an early vase……………

GBFD – February and spring IS coming

There is a little new spring foliage that wasn’t noticeable in January but soon there will be more with tints of red and pink as new foliage appears.

The slope on Thursday – Growth

Another good week for gardening!  How wonderful is that?  It is still quite cold but the sun has been shining and as long as you are in the sun it feels quite warm.  This morning I was pruning the wisteria on the pergola around the terrace.  It takes a long time to prune back every side branch but at least now I am past the stage of having to tie new branches into the structure.

Wordless Wednesday – Iris reticulata Purple Gem

In a vase on Monday – Little and Large

As a result of joining Cathy’s Meme each Monday where she challenges us to find material from our own gardens to put in a vase, as I walk around the garden I am on the lookout for buds that might be opening by Monday.

The Slope on Thursday – Winter and Spring

I am aware that last week, after a week of dull grey days I sounded rather negative; all that has changed this week.

Greenhouse-seeds and a story

Julie at Peonies and posies is posting about her very beautiful greenhouse this week so I decided to synchronise my post with hers; so that we can easily compare sowing times and we can see how we use our greenhouses.  If you have a greenhouse or just sow seeds on the windowsill why not join in and we can all learn from each other.  Also as promised is the story of how I got my greenhouse!

In a vase on Monday – variations on a theme

Monday has come around again and it is time to find material from the garden to put in a vase to join with Cathy’s, Rambling in the Garden meme.  Mondays have become slightly more difficult for me as I now teach on Monday afternoons and often spend the morning checking my preparations and presentation.

Today I awoke to bright sunshine and as yesterday had been beautifully warm I was half expecting it to be warm again today; but only half thinking that as I had heard the wind blowing hard during the night.  In fact today may have been the coldest during the day so far this year; 4°C was the high today!  Already, as it gets dark the temperature is dipping below freezing.

The slope on Thursday February 5th

February for me always feels like the worst month of winter, even if in reality winter only started at the very end of December, I’ve already had enough of the cold and wet.  This week we’ve had hail storms, rain, thunder, grey skies and one beautiful day on Monday when the sun shone all day, strangely as I mentioned in my post on Monday, just 5 miles away it snowed heavily and on speaking to friends even later in the day when the snow had stopped it wasn’t a particularly nice day so it seems I was living on my own private island of weather!