I am having extreme difficulties getting close to the computer.  The under gardener has started a blog of his own and I just cannot get him to relinquish the computer to me except under threat of death!    We have both been suffering from colds but today when the sun shone I was out and working on the bank at the front of the cottage.  This is the third year that we have been working on this long a very difficult area.  You can see pictures of this on the site and you will see what I mean.  At this time of year I am again pulling up ivy and clearing rubbish away so that the snowdrops that do so well here can been seen.  I am most hopeful of lifting and so spreading the clumps of snowdrops right across the bank. I have some new plants waiting to be put in but more of that later.

When I see Aconites, as I did last week, this then sends me off on a hunt for the Snowdrop and sure enough there they were.  It so lifts the spirits that despite the cold these little flowers push their way through ivy, leaves and debris to put in the first virtuoso performance of the year.  Boy do they put a spring into your step.

Just where do they all come from?  We spent so much time at the end of last year collecting leaves and now they appear to be everywhere again and in this wind it is such a pain chasing them all over the garden.  The Grape Hyacinth's that I planted under the new roses are all making an appearance, which I am delighted about and I spent a good deal of time yesterday tidying up the woodland garden ready for movement in that area.  Sounds quite ridiculous to say that I have been tidying a wood!  The Christmas Rose of which I have planted about twenty in this part of the garden are all in bud and those that were lifted and divided and moved last year are all looking very healthy which is a relief.  I never quite believe that I am not going to kill things off. 

Christmas now feels like an age ago.  We spend so much time getting ready for it and then it is gone. Despite the bitingly cold weather we have had I see that things are moving in the garden.  The Wedding Cake Tree is in bud and daffs are pushing their way up through the soil.  I have just cut down everything in the gravel garden and it looks very tidy.  The under gardener has been busy painting the gates at the entrance to the garden and they have gone from brown to black and are looking very good.  It was so cold that the paint would not have taken properly if the job had been done outside, so he painted them in the utility room!  I have started to process all the turf that was taken up for the rose walk.  This will take a long time.  I knock off all the soil and put it in bags to be later mixed with compost to make a good potting mix and then the remained of the turf ie the green bit goes to the local tip.  It is a pretty mind numbing job and each time I do it I say never again.