January Pics

Lovely blog Jane, thank you. I did manage to get a bucketful of rubbish off the garden today, but like you..we are extremely waterlogged. I've snowdrops in bud, and if we had a few more hours of sunlight (we had a couple this afternoon) they would surely shoot up. Its lovely to see new growth emerging. The winter has gone by in a flash...but we still have nearly 8 weeks to go. I do hope it will stop raining soon!

Jane lovely pictures your snowdrops outside are standing up better than mine the ones you showed look very much like ones i have outside called Galatea not 100 % but close,cyclamen look good tiny they are but a breath of fresh air right now one to the front looks like Pseudo Ibericum early if it is,Love the goldfinches wish I could feed them here (to many squirrels)
x

Enjoyed your blog, your cyclamen look all go still, mine seem to have given up, wonder if it's too wet for them. Lovely hellebore, is it Helen White? She's on my wish list, what a looker. You're lucky to get those goldfinches on your feeder, we've had just the very 'odd' one here. They are such gorgeous birds, so colourful.
My first snowdrops came out today and two crocusses risked it, no daffies yet. I noticed the wild honeysuckle in the hedgerows greening up as well, very early.

Oh he's.....big birdwatch.I blogged about that last week but it had gone out of my mind .thanks for the reminder....I won't be putting any goldfinches on mine, alas but I will do it and hope we get a few birds in.
You have so much colour to brighten up a miserable wet wi yer. The wind here today has been wicked.I struggled to keep my car straight whilst driving on a wide dual carriageway today.

I have so little flowering in my garden at the moment. It is just lovely to see your blog Jane.

Thankyou all for your comments

Karen - - the sun is actually shining here at the moment I don't know how long for but I think I will go and tidy up my plants in the greenhouse this pm -

Brian - - the snowdrops are a welcome sight - you know until I went to a AGS meeting on snowdrops last year I didn't realise that there were so many varieties -

Resi - - the cyclamen not in a pot is on a raised rockery so it has good drainage - I am not sure of the name of the Hellebore - but I am pretty sure it is one of about six that I bought from Hayloft a couple of years back.

Paulspatch - we get a good amount of finches - goldfinch - greenfinch and chaffinch - they collect together in the hazel tree and then drop down onto the feeders - the garden is beginning to wake up now - but my there is a lot of work to do on it to get it anywhere near presentable

Linda - everyday makes a difference - I am sure you will agree - take a walk around the garden and there is always something happening

Jane

Lovely shots Jane :) I'm happy to see your Cyclamen seeds have germinated.

Isn't it lovely walking around the garden and seeing the flowers blooming, I did smile at your instruction to not look at the weeds and debris as parts of my garden are in a right state, I have managed two stints in the garden this week, beat the rain both times, today I was armed with my trusty pruners and cut down some of the perenials, now I can see my hellebores and bulbs in one of the beds, far too wet to actually pull the weeds as the plants and bulbs would have come out as well so I used my longhandled fork to just ease the earth around where I had stood to do the cutting and clearing up..Lovely pics Jane, we haven't had any Goldfinches at all this year though we do get many others which I do enjoy watching.....

Thankyou for your comments -

Hywel - I just could not believe my eyes - but then I did follow Brians' instructions to the book!

Lincslass - yes I think a priority job for me is to cut back the dead perennials especially in our front border - problem there is work has to be done from the lawn so until it is less soggy they will have to wait - hopefully this next week

Jane

what an uplifting blog. such exciting growth taking place.

Thankyou for your comment Seaburngirl - yes every day something else surprises you - but it is very cold up here today and windy - but we have not had the really bad floods that they have had up north - Jane

Lovely blog, and lovely double Hellebore!