Magnolia soulangeana with Cornus mas behind

OH, I do hope so Dawn. I have some buds swelling on my Leonard Messel, which I planted last summer. I am so excited to see the blooms! The frosts are such a problem for them aren't they. I remember my soulangiana in the last garden being frosted and all the flowers going brown. It's so sad when that happens. There's a big white one in the garden of the farm behind us and almost every year they get ruined by the late frosts.

We have a long way to go yet Karen dont we! Thankfully M stellata usually do OK.

Yes, they seem to be very tough. A long way to go....but on the other hand...the snowdrops are starting to go over a bit, and once that happens...well, we are on the home straight Dawn. This awful weather has made the winter very depressing. I was outside for about 5 hours today and did manage to get some good work done. But the soil is so so heavy. But spring will come...it will. :) x My first clump of daffodils is out now.

I've been cutting back on the pond banks, then by lunch it was raining yet again. Yes spring is just around the corner and hopefully the ground will be drying out soon. Your plants flower so early taking into account how far north you are.

Yes, its a weird thing our microclimate here in Dundee environs. I often forget that there is a hundred miles or so of very cold exposed Borderlands between us and England because our weather is so mild. Even Edinburgh seems a lot colder to me and as for Aberdeen (an hour up the road)...bitter! It's all to do with the hills to the North and West of us. They shelter us from the worst of the weather and of course, the firth of Tay (on our side) faces south, so we have that in our favour too. Being coastal makes a huge difference in itself as well. But yes, we are very much an 'oasis' in the North. Its similar on the Moray coast as well. They often get great weather there as well. Much better conditions than Northumbria or the North York moors. :)

Did you realise you were in a microclimate when you bought the house? Its so perfect, imagine if you were in Aberdeen, it would be a different ball game. I thought the hills must protect you to a certain extent.

No Dawn. The first time I ever set foot in Dundee there was snow lying and the air was colder than anything I’d ever known! My friend did tell me that it wasn’t usually like this. We’ve only had a couple of winters like that in the 30+ years that I’ve lived here. Snow that lies for longer than one night is very rare. But no, I just fell in love...and decided to stay. I’ve never regretted it, and although sometimes I long for some warmth...the good things more than make up for the lack of summer heat.

Summer heat is overrated, I'm pleased you're settled, I'm the same here.

And Forsythia? No one's Forsythia is flowering here yet in the far far South!

Its Cornus mas Siris :-). It's been flowering for weeks

I love this photograph the fat buds against the Cornus Mas, I hope they don’t get caught, fingers crossed for you Dawn.....🙏

They will Dotty, I just know it

Our stellata is a mass of buds.......and the forecast isn’t good,🙁

The poor magnolia always seem to get hit by the weather one way or another.