Starting as I hope to continue.

I feel I should be surprised to see similar plant growth in your neck of the woods as that in mine Sbg, given the difference in latitude and the distance between Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire :-) To be fair, the only cyclamen I have in flower at the moment is on a windowsill, an old corm given as a Christmas present over 10 years ago, a mahonia is flourishing in a a neighbour's garden and the jasmine struggling for light below my neighbour' variegated holly tree. My snowdrops are making much the same progress as yours and the newly added crocus corms are looking promising too. However the bergenia are still thinking about budding, they are in a cold corner that barely sees any sunshine in the winter months but the primulas and violas are compensating with bright, eye-catching blooms. Here's hoping January is gentle to both our gardens ;-)

Its all looking good! The cyclamen are gorgeous. The closeup of the Mahonia really reminds you to appreciate it - been in flower for ages in a darkish corner here but its been too wet to even go and look at it close up. Bulbs are showing promise everywhere - if only it would stop raining...

It is interesting to see all your different Cyclamen species. C coum is a favourite of mine.
I think we must make the most of our winter flowering plants.

Another dry day today and I have been weeding the rockery [raised bed that we did quite a few years ago] Couch grass has managed to invade there but where from I have no idea.

I disturbed quite a few bulbs but they have been replanted and I took the opportunity to lift an Iris siberica 'Kaboom' and split it. I now have 2 good sized bits and half a dozen small pieces to grow on and sell in the early spring.

Sorry you are having rain Stera. I feel rather pleased with the drying garden but we are forecast it at the weekend.
Hopefully a bike ride on the BMW tomorrow, thermals at the ready.

Happy New Year to you. Love the bright colours in your garden on this the first day of 2020.

I'm a big cyclamen fan too, coum my favourite, every plant has different leaves. You have some good colour Seaburn. I've not been well over Christmas but today I felt ok to potter, I really enjoyed doing some tidying. I can't help thinking were due a cold snap though.

Happy New Year to you. Your cyclamens are beautiful . They really cheer us up.
Keep up the good work !
Marjorie

Sorry to hear you have not been well Dawn, nothing to serious I hope. But pleased you are feely much better.
Pottering is good no matter what. Yes a cold spell is well over due and to be honest I would welcome that as then the weeds would slow down too.
Happy new year to you and Marjorie.

Found a couple of corms in the rockery that have roots so not sure which cyclamen they are. I don't remember planting them.

Thanks Seaburn, just a cold but it’s on my chest, cough cough cough :-(
My cyclamen coum spread slightly each year :-)
Happy New Year!

Rachel is in Northern Norway, at Tromso, looking for the Northern lights. But their dog sledging was cancelled today because heavy rain had melted the snow! They are experiencing crazy climate change in the Arctic circle. Its alarming. I am starting to wonder if we will ever see snow again...it just keeps on raining here. Still...nowt we can do about it now. I have given up eating animal products, and thats about the best I can do. Don’t fly much. I suppose the next thing will be an electric car...but far too expensive at the moment. Sorry...rambling. Love those cyclamen!

Dawn...exactly the same here wheezing and coughing etc. Miserable.

It is worrying, but by growing plants especially trees we can do a tiny bit. I no longer buy any peat based compost as peat bogs are carbon sinks, holding onto to it and keeping it from the atmosphere. I also reuse plant pots until they are totally shot then they go to the tip .
I collect pots from members of the plant group I belong too.

I try to compost as much as I can and our County council is one of the best in the country for recycling. They do garden refuse every fortnight all year and its free so all the pernicious weeds go in there. They also take away any food waste that cant be home composted.

As a family we have reduced our meat consumption too and turned the heating down to 17c and wear our lovely jumpers and cardis that the kids rarely wore.

Both girls have followed my example of not buying fruit and veg in plastic. After all bananas/oranges etc have their own wrapping. It used to be difficult to find that but thankfully the supermarkets are getting behind less packaging now.

So you are not the only one Karen ranting a bit. haha

Gorgeous photos, I might have to get a pully on and see what our garden is hiding. I particularly like the Mahonia. Will look that one up!

Thank you for sharing!

Lovely blog, Eileen. Lovely colourful cyclamen varieties and the mahonia looks a beauty! We used to have jasmine but it was destroyed during some building work, sadly..

If I find any rooted pieces of the Jasmine would you like it Katie? I usually get some every year.

That would be lovely, thank you Eileen.

Oh Karen, you as well, it's unlike me to have a cold, well it's all on my chest. Get well soon.
Did you guys watch the horrifying David Attenborough programme about plastic in the sea, shocking and very sad.
We consider ourselves quite 'green'. I wish the council would recycle thin plastic, our black bin content is 90% of this type of plastic.

Lovely to see your plants in flower, SBG! :) I have a few Pansies in flower & some Violas as well as 100s of Marguerites (Argyranthemum frutescens)! I don't know if they are hardy but they have survived the last 3 years on the balcony - 2 years with some protection but this year with none!

I find that cuttings root with great ease & last year I planted up a dozen in 3 small troughs on the balcony railings & they have flowered all summer, autumn & now in the winter! As insurance I have a couple of plants on the kitchen windowsill.

yes they are semi hardy depending on the weather. some years I can get them to over winter but others the frost kills them.

I haven't grown them for a few years perhaps I will next/this summer.

Thanks, SBG I've just uploaded a couple of photos to my Photos page. :)