Monthly Archives: January 2013

Snowy pleasures

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Gardening, Winter garden

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I went out into the garden a few nights ago and was enchanted by the silence and beauty of it with a thick covering of snow. It felt as though it was a magical land waiting for something to happen.

In daylight it was interesting too, of course. However many times you see it the appearance of plants, paths and structures in the snow is always fascinating.

snow 2013 17

The pond has iced over again and I couldn’t make a hole. I hope there aren’t any more frogs left in there to suffer.

The gold-variegated evergreens provide a good contrast to the black and white look of snow scenes.

Eleagnus with snow

Eleagnus with snow

Euonymus 'Emerald and Gold'

Euonymus ‘Emerald and Gold’

I knocked the snow off the rosemary and mahonia where the branches looked heavy enough to break.

Apple trees have a particular charm with their gnarled-looking, horizontal branches.

snow 2013 15

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A winter flowering

15 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Flower garden

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One day last week was bright, dry, and mild and so inviting for a gardener who has been kept indoors by the horribly damp weather. I tidied up the fronts of some of the borders, taking out all the dead and dying material but dared not step onto the soil as the clay is still very wet. On the whole the garden is not looking too bad and the grass was beautifully green and lush.

Just looking around to see what was flowering I found primulas, mahonia, Viburnum tinus, and the delightful Winter flowering jasmine.

Winter flowering jasmine

Winter flowering jasmine

I was surprised to see a mauve flower growing out of the picea, which turned out, on close inspection, to be a climbing bloom of Vinca minor.

Vinca minor in Picea

A small Witch hazel ‘Orange Peel’ is starting to look rather pretty

Witch hazel 'Orange Peel'

Witch hazel ‘Orange Peel’

Alas, poor frogs!

08 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by in Pond, Wildlife

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Last week I ventured out into the sodden garden after a few days of drier weather. Walking around by the pond I was horrified to see 7 dead, bloated, frogs floating in the water. I have seen one or two like this after a cold patch, when the pond freezes over, but not more. We wondered if it was our radical clearing out of the pond in October that had somehow left them vulnerable.

The pond before clearingpond sept

The naked pond – although still some submerged floating plants

pind dec 2012

Having taken advice from the organisation called Pond Conservation, it seems that we wouldn’t have done much harm with our clear-out, quite the reverse really. It is most likely that they did suffer when there was a cold snap a week or two before Christmas and then took their time to float to the top of the pond. I hadn’t tried to keep a patch of water clear of ice this season, so I must remember to do this in the future in order to prevent any build-up of noxious gases. I really do hate my frogs to be hurt!