Inside outside at Christmas

Your christmas arrangements are great Linda. I've just binned my wreath. Everything else was packed away on 29th. Your garden is looking tidy as well, and theres plenty of lovely lush green to enjoy out there. I went scouting for snowdrop shoots today, but only a very few are peeping above ground. It feels like winter is only just beginning...we will make it through! Have you any plans to visit Swewden this winter? I wonder if its snowy there....Think I shall treat myself to a nice bunch of flowers from M& S tomorrow!w

Lots of colour inside, and plenty of green outside. Is that Bergenia, in the 1st &2nd pics? I know it's called elephants ears, but it does look luxuriant. The seed pod looks great, a lily?

all my Christmas decorations are gone now and today I shredded the tree. It is put to one side to mature before I pop it on the soil.

your garden is looking good too, wish mine was but I plan to work on it in 2017

Thanks everyone. I noticed the snowdrops were in leaf, but no flowers, Karen. It is mild, but who knows what the next few months will bring. The weather in Sweden is just the same as here. January and February are usually colder.
We plan to go in May and again in the summer. A home from home.
Yes it is Bergenia, Siris. It is sheltered there so it looks good through the winter.
My son goes back to London tomorrow so I will take down the decorations then.You get fed up with it all don't you SBG?
I am still tidying the odd things, but I leave some of the dead leaves to protect the plants. I have to hold back the urge to trim everything.

Happy New Year to you and yours,Linda,and I love your House decs I also love the lady sculpture on your mantlepiece ,that is beautiful...:o) Garden still looking lush too,with all that greenery..:o)

We've always put our decorations up very near Christmas and left them until 12th night, but they are beginning to look a bit irrelevant by now.
Your decorations are beautiful Linda, especially the one on the mantelpiece. You have some good greenery in your borders - just asking for the first daffodils!

I love the arrangement on the fireplace.....very bright,colourful and cheerful. I like to see the garden in winter time as well as summer. Particularly trees....I love to see them bare.Julie thinks I'm odd preferring a lot of trees in the winter.But, they look more interesting to me...seeng the branches.

I agree Paul especially in the sun with a blue sky behind.
And the moss and ivy look brighter green on the trunks too.
Every season has its joys (including November???)

I love your indoor plants and Christmas decorations Linda. Your garden doesn't look too bad for mid winter :)
Happy New Year :)

Happy New Year and thanks for the comments. The lady sculpture on the mantelpiece Bloomer, is me. The sculptor Sandy Stoddart is a good friend of ours and this is his sculpture of me. We have one of Barry too. I painted portraits of his family.
I like to make a big arrangement for the mantelpiece. It is imitation flowers and real greenery.
I like the trees in winter too Paul. Great shapes and structure.
Luckily there are lots of green plants and shrubs to see from the windows in the winter, Stera.
The Daffodils are beginning to appear but, tomorrow has to be very cold here. It will be a while before they flower.
It seems a bit visually quiet I think, Hywel but, the Hellebores will be out soon.

Beautiful center piece on the mantle and the sculpture beside it (you) caught my eye too. I've loved to see your arrangements during the year. You have a real talent. Happy New Year.

Thanks Klahanie. I don't do as many flower arrangements since my class stopped. It was great fun. Pity!

Flower arrangements are fab

I wondered if it might be of you,Linda..and one of Barry too...how lovely to have a friend with such a talent..they must be so special to you..

Thanks Sandra. Sandy has done work for the queen and Prince Charles, so we are very lucky, Bloomer.

Lovely floral arrangement and your heading made me realise that though I have taken down the Christmas decorations today I have forgotten the OUTSIDE lights!!!

Eirlys, it took me until today to pack away the outside lights. I had taken them down but they were still outside. Phew!

Aside from some Crocuses pushing their way through the compost in the troughs there is little to see on the balcony this year. :-(( I didn't get any Pansies or Violas because they have preformed terribly over the past 5 years. I do have a dozen pots with dwarf Tulips, Daffodils & Crocuses in them which will give a lovely show in a couple of months time.

It seems to take us longer each year to put up the tree & decorations. Though I put up the tree (artificial) at the end of November we hardly decorated it at all. We put it up for the gkids who wanted to"help" us decorate it - but they lost all interest in doing anything & so the poor tree languished for weeks before we finally got down to finishing it off! The same happened in reverse! We finally put it away about the 5th or 6th of January!