December 2006

Well here we are another December....what happened to the year! Doesn't seem five minutes since i was packing all the decorations away and thinking that was it all over for another year. I always look forward after Christmas - by the time you get back into routine it's usually February and then you see a difference in the daylight lengths and Spring is on it's way! The beginning of the growing season. Although so far this year winter hasn't really started and i'm beginning to wonder if it will.

I've started my christmas shopping and if i hear one more Christmas song i think i'll scream. Managed to get out yesterday to do a bit of shopping after panicking and realising that it was less than a month away. That's the thing about Christmas it comes ready or not! It will be all worth it on the day i'm sure and at least i'll have time to relax (well that's the plan anyway).

With the weather still acting strangely i've plants in flower that should be resting over the colder months. This ox-eye daisy has started flowering again and putting on new growth.

Roses are still putting out buds too and some have dropped all their leaves and continue to flower, bizarre.

The decidous shrubs have taken their time this year in dropping their leaves and some are still stubbornly hanging on to them.


The waiting continues to see the first flowers on my Fatsia Japonica....as you can see a few more heads are out but still not flowering as yet and here we are in December. It's only down to the exceptionally mild weather at the moment that these haven't been killed by frost, so i wouldn't expect to see flowers every year.

I'm told that the flowers are really insignificant and it's looking that way, just as well i was growing it for the bold leaves as an architectural plant.

The cold frames i received for my birthday are still in their boxes. The weather has been so changeable with high winds that it's been impossible to get anything done in the garden. We've also had a lot of rain which has left the ground soggy too. I've still got some tidying up to do at the front of the house and will have to factor this in at some point.

Well back to the Christmas preparations... start of the Christmas social nights next week....life's hard for some isn't it?