Winter has been very wet, and still is very wet. December was very tiresome as usual - the short days and busyness of Christmas. There’s never much room for garden things or even thinking about garden things. But then February comes, the garden awakens with birds singing and jewels of snowdrops, hellebores and crocus emerging from the depths of the darkness. 

February brings that deep in my belly excitement - we make plans for the year. The constant rain has kept us from finishing the pond, but we’ll finish it this year. Most weekends Josh has been working on his workshop (part of the old stables which need fixing up, insulating & so on…) Other plans for this year include the greenhouse, the shed, the cabin borders, the vegetable garden and growing more plants for the front garden. 

I’m also aiming to create many more arrangements this year, in ceramics, in pots, in jugs, in everything. I don’t have huge numbers of flowers yet, so I’m always a little reluctant to cut them and bring them inside. But it’s a beautifully creative thing to get lost in the colour and form up close, the creative freedom of playing with blossom, flowers & foliage. My new paintings reflect these flowers and the arrangements too. 

Winter honeysuckle and snowdrops below

‘Under the Oak’ has been spectacular this year. So far, a blue and purple sea of crocus & Iris Reticulata. Next will come the delicate narcissi, followed by the snake heads. 

Peeking through the gate is the ram’s horn.

And lastly, here’s the front garden at the end of February, freshly mulched. We started from scratch and it doesn’t look like much so far, but I’m already very excited about the contrast in structure, foliage and texture. I have high hopes for spring bulbs and summer perennials - and hopefully it’ll fill out soon, with some help of cuttings and plants grown from seed.