End of Month Review February 2023

February has felt a bit long this year, I am not convinced it is the shortest month, maybe someone has added in an additional week when I wasn't looking though on saying this, how it is March already??

The garden has been cold, mild and now has some rain and gone cold again.  It was actually getting quite dry so the rain is a relief.  The daylight hours are getting longer and the garden is responding with stirrings.  Birds are very flappy and the Magnolia in the front garden has caught some of their excitement.

The aconite wave in the front lawn is doing very well this year.  

and the spring bulbs in the lawn are competing well with the moss.  This front lawn is horrendously badly drained, can you tell?

The Winter Honeysuckle is providing scent by the front gate.

In the Courtyard Garden the aspidistras are feeling a little chilly, but generally none the worse for wear.

The Prunus Kojo-no-mai that lives in a pot in the Courtyard Garden is just starting to blossom.  This is very exciting.

Unlike the Prunus Beni-chidori which is looking decidedly dead.  I have cut away most of the tree and whilst I have very little hope of it growing from the base, I live in hope nonetheless.

I do wonder if various cats scratching at it have hastened its demise.

Talking of demise, I am not hugely hopeful for this Euphorbia mellifera either, though....

if I peer closely at its base, there is one green shoot still, so maybe it will be ok.

In better news, the edgeworthia chrystantha that got badly hit by frost is looking like it is ok.  Some of the buds are badly damaged but some are gearing up to open and the two prongs of green leaf-growth are a very welcome sight.

I furtled about in the crowns of the tree ferns the other day, the biggest one (Oddbod) seems to have some knuckles of growth.  The others didn't seem quite so evident but they didn't feel spongy either, so I am not in despair yet.

and there is much to bring joy at the moment.  The snowdrops and early narcissus are doing well in the Wild Garden

The snowdrops are clumping up well and I will divide them in a couple of weeks time.  You can see the froth of yellow from the Cornus mas as well, this is now a goodly size and such a good shrub.

The garden is not at its tidiest this time of year, I kid myself, it is never tidy; but I stand and look at the rusty tree and the copper beech pillars behind it and smile.

The Spring Border will soon be at peak spring.

and the Dancing Lawn will soon be transitioning from its crocus phase to its narcissus phase.

The Dye Garden (as it will be) is still covered over,

and already waiting in the wings are some soapwort and woad plants waiting for their moment.

and in the greenhouse the new raised beds I have bought are waiting to be put together.  I think I will also need to buy a bag of topsoil to fill them with.

The pond is waiting for its first frogspawn, I swear there was a rippling going on the other day.

Not long now until we can say it is Spring and soon Winter will be a memory.  We are not through the frost and snow zone yet, but soon I hope, soon....

Take care and be kind.

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