Monday, January 08, 2007

Spring greens

No, I realise that its not yet Spring.

In fact, we could be quite a long way off from those signs of new lice life.

BUT - I spent some time in the garden today. Unexpectedly. My garden is quite neglected most winters, its my busiest time at work - and anyway, its cold, wet and dark. Winter is for resting, right? I figure hibernation is the natural way of things.

But, having gone outside to help LG clean out her guinea pigs, I then did some clearing up and reorganised our wood pile.

It is only a little log pile. But then this is London, so its only the occasional illicit log which we put on top of the smokeless fuel.


It felt so good being out in the green and the fresh air ("fresh" in that peculiarly London way) that I stayed out for a while clearing and weeding.


The garden looks more than a little dishevelled and neglected.
















But its certainly green. I don't have any weeds in my garden - I have "ground cover".

And there were some delights and surprises for me.


Winter jasmine. Not at all surprising. In fact, very common and garden. But I love it, it blooms from November to March and its sunshine-brightness always cheers me up.

I also have a winter-flowering clematis (Clematis balearica) which I think probably had at least a couple of seasons secretly flowering before I even noticed it. Its going wild now, draping itself gracefully through the apple trees and roses.





























This is surprising - a salvia still flowering in the middle of winter.

And its a particularly loud and lovely salvia which Lucy (Rambling Woman) gave me for my birthday a few years ago.












This was completely surprising, as I have no idea what it is or how it got there!
Presumbly it flowered at some point, but
I didn't witness it. Those berries look so good, they must surely be poisonous.













And these berries, don't look so good cos this is a crap photo, but I couldn't go back and take more because I had eaten them.

They are autumn-fruiting, but always surprise me even in October/November because I forget I have them. But in January? I think this raspberry is seasonally challenged.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You ate them, eh! Ha ha...dunno why but that made me laugh.

Letty - the only plant I have is in a pot on my windowsill and it's shedding leaves at an alarming rate. I reckon it has only a month or two left before if joins the great plant heaven in the sky.
WHY do I kill plants...why why why!! PTB!

lettuce said...

hahaha. They were delicious. All the more for being so unseasonal.

I have some house plants which are almost unkillable - you could smuggle some bits in your handluggage next time you visit. :o)

Pod said...

i miss english gardens! the smell and everything. there isn't much in the way of seasons here. warm/hot/warm. so i loved seeing your little garden! try one of those orange berries....go on

Anonymous said...

Oh Pod you are so naughty!!! Don't even think of eating those orange berries Letty! Hehehe ;-)

I am amazed at the amount of activity going on in your garden. We have a wall full of the beautiful white and highly scented winter Jasmine at the moment. It always surprises me how such delicate looking flowers can survive such cold conditions. I can just see tips of the daffodils that line our driveway peeking through the grass. Oh it will be spring before we know it, yippee :-)

joyce said...

oh my. That's WINTER, you say?
beautiful.

Anonymous said...

You should not be allowed to post photos like that for Albertans to look at, it's too cruel. We had a blizzard on Wed. and yesterday the temp. dropped to -30C. My yard is convered in snow and I miss my flowers. I'm jealous.