Would rather have had a hang over!

Owing to the fact that Head Gardener has been recovering from a nasty bout of 'something', poor Chris was totally abandoned this week. When he arrived, he assumed that we were both too hung over from the previous Burn's Night celebrations! As if!!!  One had to croak out an explanation which had forced a last minute postponement to any such celebrations! He plodded 'quietly' on emptying the compost bay and mulching the Lower Border which he had carefully prepared last week and then moved on to prune both pear trees. Unusually, H.G. was left pathetically clutching a hot water bottle drinking copious hot toddies in front of the log burner! Will need to compensate next week!

Woodbury rising from the shadows.

We did have just a dusting of snow earlier in the week but it didn't last five minutes and looked as if the garden had been dredged with icing sugar. Note that we still have the odd rose in bloom! I should dearly love to know the name of this variety as there's hardly a day in the year when there are no flowers in bloom.

Lift & Divide!

Spot Chris in the shadows!

As our usual Saturday gardening day was swapped to today, work began in the Lower Border the whilst Head Gardener was engaged with the annual appointment with the accountant! When lunch time arrived Chris had practically finished it all on his own and, as it was so cold, H.G cooked bacon sandwiches (on homemade bread!) and made hot coffee for lunch.

Clumps of Epimediums

It was then back to work with the usual team of two! Chris dug out and divided the HUGE Epimedium clump and divided it and replanted the divisions - 11 in all. Some were returned to the Woodland Border with fresh compost (from the heap!) and others were replanted in the shady Tool Shed Border in which there has never been much interest apart from a few Muscari in spring.

Meanwhile Snowdrops and Hellebores are popping up everywhere.  The scent from the Sarcococca  was wafting across the garden despite the low temperatures! Even the fragrance from the Chimonanthus praecox was making its presence felt and I have a cold!!  To add to the scene, the sun came out briefly and the chill wind abated. We were reminded that mid-winters day has passed and that spring is nearing!

Border Patrol!

I was meant to be catching these, NOT taking photos!

Making a start

Tome to clear the Woodland Border, trim off all last year's hellebore leaves, clear out encroaching ivy, and cut back dead/dying ferns.  Guess what we found! Yes! Hellebores coming into flower and snowdrops just peeping through the soil!!  Chris found the odd clump of snowdrops hidden behind the old pear tree so we moved them where they can be appreciated and admired.

Progress!

Ta dah!!

Having finished that, it was time to start on both Well Steps Borders. Major ivy clearance and deadheading.  It's all very well for these erudite gardeners to advise dead heading in spring and lecturing on how magically pretty dead heads look when covered in frost with the sun low in the sky.  The thing is, with a damp, dull and dank winter, they just look blackened and soggy as they rot!

WWW...........Warm Winter Work!!

Having begun the annual fern clear up down in the Fernery, it was time to warm up with a bonfire and a major tidy up. The wood ash is mixed in with the compost and we also top dress raspberries and fruit trees with it. The bracken is used as a duvet on the arum lilies to keep the frost off them and ensure they survive the winter. Hopefully the weather will hold and we can finish this job and clear the ever encroaching ivy from around both the ferns and Hellebores.

I know may people have snowdrops in bloom so I went on a hunt for ours. After an intensive search, I found a few just peeping through!!  Hellebores are also just pushing up so it's time to remove all last years leaves. Who says gardening stops in winter???

Cobra Leaves Leaves!

The girls setting off on slug patrol

Honda - leaves hoovered up.

Two days without rain AND the sun came out!!  Time to get out lawn mowers, raise up the blades and top the grass! Two different mowers used - the Honda is really good at picking up and chopping up leaves whereas, the Cobra always leaves leaves behind!!! 

The chickens enjoyed a box of fresh grass clippings before going out on slug patrol for half an hour. I even edged the lawns and was far too hot in a fleece in December!! 

Cobra - leaves remained.

Yew have a good year!

PAINTING TREES!

Before

As if shampooing and blow drying trees wasn't enough, now we've taken to painting them - thus guaranteeing a white Christmas!!

During

It's a very continental arboreal approach and is done to reflect the sun's heat to prevent bark damage. Whilst our trees never suffer from sunburn, we all agreed that it might look quite striking if we experimented on the Aspens. Thanks to Chris G., we used his own Genever Patent Tree Paint!! Guaranteed not to harm, not to flake and will move with the bark. As the girth of the Aspens increase and, with future coats, so will the overall effect. When all the snowdrops beneath are in bloom, we think it should look even more striking. It certainly looks very ghostly at night!!

More progress

It's a white-out!

WinterTrees

A local Oak

A few of the trees featured in my Winter Trees Week! The Hazel catkins can't wait for spring and when you look at them, I sometimes wonder: who needs leaves!!

Hazel catkins

Birches in the garden

A Week of Winter Weather!

Our resident glass woodpecker
in a Betula jaquemontii!

On the run up to Christmas, the pretty foul weather hasn't allowed much gardening so I've been doing a Week on Winter Trees with a different tree featured each day on FB. Hopefully tomorrow, it will be dry enough to prune the holly and use the prunings in the house and gather up the last remaining leaves.  Soon it will time to prune the apple trees and then the pears.  It's heartening to realise that today is the longest day and that from now on, the days will start to lengthen again.

On the odd sunny day, the bare trees are looking lovely in the low light. I think I like their skeletal forms even more than leaf canopies!  Well, I say that until spring!

Winter solstice moon rising over the cider apple orchards

Shampooing and Rescuing Trees!!

The O'Leary Pieris

Head Gardener has been off duty for a week and has been exploring gardens in foreign parts!  This week, it was back to work as usual and first on the agenda was to rescue the O'Leary Pieris which blew over in high winds.  It was planted down in the Sofa Border and looks a treat.  It now has much more room and should really thrive. Sadly, the beautiful pot was beyond redemption - sigh!

Caught shampooing trees!

I got a lot of flack from Chris when he spotted me with a bucket of soapy water, brush in hand scrubbing the thick green algae off silver birches!  OK maybe I should get out more! As if I wasn't bad enough, he then gave them a blow dry with the leaf blower!  Shampoo and blow drying trees!! I ask you!!

Joking aside: at this time of year when the sun is low in the sky, they look absolutely dazzling now that they're free of all the green algae which had collected on the bark.  Worth doing as they're on full view when standing at the kitchen sink!! One is a Silver Queen and the other two are Jacquemontii's.  Well worth the trouble despite all the banter!!

Chris being just as bad!