Unexpected Delights

A dry sunny day gave me the opportunity to do some tidying in the garden. In amongst the expected delights of snowdrops, hellebores and witch hazel, there were some decidedly unseasonal sightings – a perfect rosebud, a honey bee on Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postil’ and most surprising of all – a cluster of Cirsium rivulare flowers – usual flowering period July and August. I’ve seen them flowering in their natural habitat in Transylvania and know that they like to grow in wet ground (hence the common name Brook Thistle) but nevertheless, despite all the rain, this gets the prize for my least expected garden sighting in January – ever.