maddergenealogist

I think that if I was feeling lazy I would just refer you to my last gardening post . Not much has changed in the last month. This March has been the coldest since 1962 and for what seems like at least half of it there has been snow on the ground.

View out the back window – hydrangea petiolaris covered in snow.

How can such a depth of snow settle on such thin branches, especially as the snow was drifting elsewhere? Luckily there has been a bit of colour indoors. In the conservatory an Aeonium has been flowering,  so it can’t be too cold in there!

Aeonium flowering in the conservatory

This is a green leafed Aeonium – one of my dark-leaved (black) plants which was moved into the (heated) greenhouse for the winter has succumbed  to the cold.

One plant that I seemed to get right this year was a pot of Hyacinths, which flowered last week, providing a wonderful perfume to the house. Once again I seem to have mislaid the label, but they were an unusual pinky/orange colour.

A bowl of Hyacinths brighten up the window sill.

 The Hellebores are still going strong in the garden. The snow makes them hang their heads, but they soon perk up again when it goes.

The Hellebore Border

As I do every year, I picked some heads and floated them in water. They don’t last very long but it gives a chance to look at them in detail (and in the warm).

Harvington Apricot Hellebore – funny apricot!

This is my new Harvington Apricot Hellebore, that I mentioned in January. Not sure if it was worth the extra money – it doesn’t look much different from some of my “ordinary” hellebores.

I was worried about the frogs, when they laid their frogspawn two weeks ago, just before it turned very cold again. I did wonder why there was only spawn in the bottom (wild) pond, rather than the top (ornamental, with fish) pond, did they know it would be eaten by the fish? No, it must have been more sheltered down there (it’s under a weeping willow) and today I found a proud father (or mother) supervising its future tadpoles.

Frogspawn under supervision in the pond

Today has been sunny, but still cold and we have only one daffodil out, so far. I hope spring arrives soon – the new border wants to get going.

Red stems of a Peony, Tulips and  an Aquilegia getting ready for Spring.