Winter leaves us dramatically

The Camellias wave their magnificent blooms in acknowledgment and whisper to the Rhododendrons, "She's a good sod! Every little bit helps"

Before vanishing into weeks of sickness and gloom, I had written that the gardens looked untidy and uncared for. The offending dead flowers have gone. I did not have the time to prune all the Hydrangeas myself and will have to "tidy" them up. My helper [!] has left dead stalks which should be cut down to ground level and non flowering, useless branches but he did try to find the two shoots on the productive branches and make his cuts there. I cannot complain, Kees is now pruning the roses, a little late but we were away for six weeks and if he had pruned them earlier, the frosty mornings may have claimed the fast emerging early shoots

There are some weeds still trying to smother the seedlings emerging out of the rich garden bed soil. The removal of the pests we will leave until last. If undone, we will cover the beds with mulch before the gardens are open to our fellow [is that word sexist?] gardening friends. But the forget-me-nots will have to be taken in hand. They took the opportunity of our absence to gallop everywhere and though I love the dear little things with their sky blue flowers, this year they have gone too far.

The forget-me-nots are not the only things that have been having fun while we were away. The frogs in "Big Cinderella and the three Ugly Sisters" have increased a hundred fold. Their croaking, at night, is enough to wake up the dead. The scientists write that the decline in frog population is a sure wake up call that we must take notice of and clean up our act. Kees and I and our gardens, must be doing something right

PS Since I wrote this we have had snow. It did not settle but there were flakes for two days and it is forecast that this awful weather will last for another two days. Another weekend was a dead loss, if the gentle snow stopped, heavy rain and wind took over.

Oh! Well! Let us hope it kills all the bugs.

Next month the wooden clogs will be walking the garden paths

I have lots of photos, some taken after the snow, others taken in the rain last weekend!

Have patience down loading them. Perhaps,

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