First of the year (Blog that is)

A real joy and pleasure Brian thankyou for sharing.

likewise enjoyed :-) thank you!

so much happening bjs..your auricula is soo early..we will all soon be up to our eyes in it all...:-)

Beautiful colours. Very welcome blog. Thank you.

thanks for the beautiful quality photos ,great camera,wish I had the same one x

Anci the camera is not a very expensive one ,bought in December on line .Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ40.some of these pics I used flash in the open on a setting where the flash occurs before the shutter opens which worked very well.

Did enjoy, lots to see, your wallflowers are out early.

Beautiful just beautiful :O) love them all. :O) special for me the snowdrops mine just poking out of the ground now. So looking forward to seeing them I love snowdrops. :O)

Lots to admire. I love these red peonie buds poking out the ground.
Keep those squirrels out Jamie.

That's just what the primula does here too Brian....lovely silvery rosette!

Thankyou Brian, its a pleasure to see whats already going on in your garden, amazes me how things bloom in one garden and not another, my youngest is only around the corner from us, her garden faces the same way as ours and like you she already has Wallflowers and Snowdrops, however I have Hellebores in flower and hers are not yet showing any buds, I check mine every day for the first Snowdrops, lol.....

Iciar
Our most common snowdrop in the UK is a small one called Nivalis,that one with me is only just showing but there are a lot varieties that flower much earlier.

As usual...great blog with superb photos.
A job well done, B!

Looks like you have that new camera well and truly sussed Brian as Mouldy says superb photos ,you could be forgiven for thinking winter had never arrived in your garden with so many blooms to show .. I do hope those " blobs " aren't Honey Fungus I would be interested to know what it is if you do find out as I had some like that in a hedge row .....

Me, too.

I did enjoy your blog very much lovely :0)

Lovely blog & plants. Thanks.

You have such a wonderful collection of plants in flower, who'd think it was supposed to be winter? LOL! Do you often have as many plants in flower as this year or is it perhaps down to the very mild, if wet & windy, winter we are having in the UK this year?

Balcony
The Auricula and Primula are both early as you say mild weather.
The hellebores in the garden if anything are a bit later than usual.
Because January can be a depressing month I have built up a collection of bulbs and early flowering alpines to brighten things up in January onwards a lot of which are under cover but not heated unless it becomes very cold.
B

Love your heathers what a display, I would warn Jamie, squirrels spit mine does any way if I disturb it pinching the bird food.

I am still waiting for my snowdrops to sow there little heads :0)

Should not be long now hopefully they will have increased in numbers.

Thrupennybit
That's an original name have a few silver ones with Queen Victoria head on and of course the Brass one that were in use when I was young. Will tell Jamie but doubt he will take any notice, a mouth that can carry three Tennis Balls at once is quite formidable.

I gave my thrupennybits to my daughter but they were not the silver ones, Wow Jamie must be training for game then. :o))

...of tennis, perhaps? ;-)

lol of course the score would be one love I think for the love of Jamie.

I like it. lol
We play Ball most days on the fields and hills around us however Jamie is quite good at losing them if he picks up the scent of some wild creature, he then becomes Dog totally different to the domesticated pet liking his home comforts.
We have lost 50 tennis balls bought on e bay a little over a year ago he now raids local tennis courts where he squeezes under the wire netting surrounding them to find ones that have not been picked up.

Very late getting to the Bjs - been busy decorating ;)
As usual your plants are a delight. I'm laughing at Jamie sneaking into the tennis courts to pinch the balls - maybe you should buy him a membership :)

Jamie's good at recycling, then, B. ;-)

That has made me giggle, typical boy wild food before play, reminds me of the film where the dogs were trained to rob the bank. Perhaps the pound shop would be more economical when he s ran out tennis court balls.