THE FROST HAS ARRIVED

After a mild December and an unusually warm period over Christmas, winter has arrived with a vengeance. Temperatures dropped to - 4° C on the night of January 3rd which is most unusual for these parts. At least it will test the hardiness of the South African bulbs planted out in the garden. The alpine houses had all the vents and doors closed to prevent the plunge from freezing and cracking the crockery pots. The one that houses the hardy Cyclamen had a heater installed and set to 0° C; just enough to keep out the frost as cyclamen generally don't like heat. The reason for the heat is to protect the few varieties that have a reputation of being slightly tender, such as Africanum and Rohlfsianum.

Any plants on the patio that I thought were on the tender side were placed on the floor of the alpine house for the duration of the cold spell. Those in front of the house which faces south were tucked in close to the wall for protection.

The temperature stayed below freezing all day and I had to continually break the ice in the pool and the bird bath so that the birds could get a drink. The bird table had to be replenished three times a day as it was getting more visitors than usual.

It is most important if you start feeding the birds in bad weather conditions that you keep it up as they come to depend on it and forget about other methods of feeding that take much more effort. Fresh water is also important if the weather is frosty as all their usual water sources will be iced over. Some people feed them dry bread which is one of the worst things they can eat as it swells up inside them and require lots of water to help digest it; if an adequate water supply is not available they die.

At least the cold weather will help to slow down the spring flowering plants some of which were already starting to flower. Three plants of Primula pubescens are already in full bloom and lots more are showing colour. I find that when they flower too early they never quite come up to the standard of those that flower at their normal time of March or April.

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