Between the Downpours

Oh the garden is so soggy! We have avoided the worst of the cold and barely seen a snowflake, but getting anything done has proved really difficult. Some of the borders are still covered by a thick layer of tulip tree leaves and I’ve long run out of anywhere to stack them.

Before Border – still covered with leaves

After Border – leaves gone and a top-dressing of bark

I had hoped to have excavated the friable leaf mould from the existing leaf heap by now and spread it on the garden, but we may just have to stack the new stuff on top of it and do lots of jumping up and down. The leaf heap is in danger of taking hill-like proportions. Meanwhile I am mulching with shredded bark.

Mimosa will soon be in full flower

Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postil’

Clematis urophylla ‘Winter Bells’

Iris reticulata ‘Katherine Hodgkinson’

Hydrangea before pruning

Hydrangea cut back to first pair of fat buds

In a few hours of glorious sunshine, I did get out and prune most of the hydrangeas, cutting each stem to a pair of fat buds – in our sheltered garden they should be fine.
There are reasons to be cheerful despite the rain – the mimosa is colouring up, the daphne ‘Jacqueline Postil’ is in full fragrant flower, reticulata iris have started to flower and the clematis urophylla ‘Winter Beauty’ that I planted last year has romped through the quince tree and is festooning it with its wonderful white waxy bells.

Update: the greenhouse remains rodent-free and the first salad seeds have germinated. Hooray!