Its the first day of the new year and after many days of being inside overeating and drinking too much the perfect antidote was to spend some time at the nursery with the cat. The weather was reasonably kind, temperature about 8 c, windy and dry. Fortunately there has been quite a lot of rain but our pond is still below the overflow pipe. It was dug in August 2000 and by November that year was full to overflowing so Philip dug a line to the front ditch to remove the excess water.

There are an amazing number of plants in flower at the moment. This is an exposed site in the Midlands, not a sheltered corner in Cornwall. So I made a list. Geranium ‘Bill Wallis’; Schizostylis, Winter jasmine, Lonicera fragrantissima, Viburnum bonantense ‘Dawn’, Roses Mme Hardy and Graham Thomas, Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’, Mahonia, Rhodanthemum ‘African Eyes’, Echinops ‘Veitch’s Blue’,  Marigolds, Hellebores, sweet William, Erodium pelargonifolium, Chrysanthemums, Rosemary, Lavender, Pinks, Erigeron karvinskianus and Agapanthus. No sign of any snowdrops yet but it won’t be long until they make their welcome appearance.