It's always good to get out in the garden (rain permitting!) in the darkest days of winter and take my annual flower count. The blooms may be smaller, but they're a welcome sight and there's always a few surprises.
This year's count stands at 12: not my best result, but there were signs of plenty more waiting in the wings. This year we have:
- the pictured rosemary - now reclassified as a member of the Salvia aka sage family, though I'm sure it'll keep its familiar common name, This is a great plant to have flowering for any bees venturing out at this time of the year
- 3 different kinds of winter flowering clematis - Clematis balearica, Clematis 'Freckles' and Clematis urophylla 'Winter Beauty'
- Single snowdrops a-plenty - Galanthus nivalis
- Strawberry 'Just Add Cream'
- Primrose 'Cottage Cream'
- Double flowered hellebores, but no sign of the Christmas rose
- Violas
- Erigeron
- perennial cornflower
- Viburnum x bodnantense 'Dawn'
Other hellebores, winter honeysuckle and daffodils are in bud; there are some tulip leaves, but no sign of the crocuses.
A Happy New Year to you - what's flowering in your garden?
A Happy New Year to you - what's flowering in your garden?