Eight cards to brighten a wintery day

February 15, 2023

I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks this has been a long, long winter and so it was good receive the most recent Card Boys box through the post. Once again there’s eight cards, and once again its hard to choose a single favourite.

All of them though brought a pop of much welcomed colour to my morning, and yes, even those on with dark backgrounds - they just make the colours pop even more.

Couldn’t you just dive into those leaves and smell the freshness right now? Or maybe a birthday party is just what we need…

There’s plants in vases and plenty of yellow and orange flowers - I’ve been trying to work out what they are and are settling on cone flowers for the yellow, and perhaps dahlias or gerberas for the orange ones. But they could be any number of other flowers either, and that’s ok.

Abstract shapes, perhaps for when you’re not sure what to say or friendly turtles swimming in an unrealistic bubblegum pink pond. Both made me smile though.

We all need to hear that we’re fantastic at times, and what better way than by post? I’m between these two for my favourites this month, but then again it really could be any of them.

Which would you choose?

My garden in December and January

February 10, 2023

It’s been a quiet couple of months in our garden. Winter is obviously usually quieter but it seems even more so because of the weather. In December we had frosts, then our leaves fell and then snow. It’s not been the most inviting of weather to get out into the garden, and so I’m covering two months in this post.

The frosts were certainly pretty, and I loved to see the frosted spider webs though I imagine the spiders were less keen.

The whole garden took on a Narnia-like quality, and we spent quite some time admiring it from inside!

A look down the frost covered garden in December

Up until this month the weather had been unseasonably warm and our leaves hadn’t yet fallen. Once the frost and snow had gone nature set about righting that and quite literally overnight we were right back into autumn. At least they all came down at once, usually it is over a longer period - so the clear up was at least shortened too.

Fallen leaves on the patio - the latest ever they've come down

Sadly the cyclamen weren’t a fan of the frosts and snow, and looked very sorry for themselves. They haven’t really recovered and the leaves have gone leaving the corms showing. They’ll come back though, I’m sure.

Frost damaged cyclamens in terracotta pots

So unusually December was about leaves, frost and snow - quite a way to end a year of strange weather.

A fallen leaf balancing on the top of another bush

And in January…

The frosts continued, but at least the days were bright if not on the cold side. And we’ve had some glorious blue skies. The fatsia is still recovering from the frosts, its leaves drooping just as they did in the drought this summer. Over the month the grass has gradually defrosted, and while it’s not quite a mud bath it’s definitely softer than frozen.

Blue skies above the fatsia which is droopier after the frost

There is signs of new growth though. Among the flower beds the cyclamen leaves (which were in a more sheltered spot so fared better) are now being overtaken by the euphorbias, who in turn have the beginnings of their lime green ‘flowers’.

Euphorbia and cyclamen leaves crossing over into the slate edging

The bulbs are also pushing their way through the soil. In the pots I have tulips and alliums, and there’s daffodils throughout the garden. I read recently that squirrels don’t like the smell of daffodils and leave them alone, it seems though the scent doesn’t travel that far as the squirrels are more than happy to make holes in the grass, much to MOH’s annoyance.

Signs that the tulips and alliums are getting ready for spring

Daffodil growth towards the back of the garden (along with weeds!)

I’ll leave you with a shot of the faded hydrangea heads. They’re mostly still going strong, having weathered the frosts and the snow - and still manage to look beautiful. I’ll need to check them next time I pop out, to see if the new growth for this year has started yet, or not.

How’s your garden fared this winter?

Post Comment Love 10 - 12 February

February 10, 2023

Welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo - a friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Over the last week we’ve had an influx of house viewings, which is of course good news - hopefully we’ll soon find someone who’s keen to buy our house again. We had a buyer and things were progressing however, as is so often the case at the moment, our chain broke and we were back to square one. The downside of the house viewings is keeping everything cleaner and tidier than we normally would, so that it’s ready to welcome anyone even at short notice. I should say, we’re naturally clean and tidy, but this is a super level of clean and tidy!

We've slipped back into colder weather again, with fog and mist in the mornings. MOH took himself off for a morning cycle this week but wasn’t out for long thanks to the freezing fog. I was able to be a bit more tactical about things, and headed out once the sun was out and the skies had cleared somewhat. Walking back over the heath I snapped this week’s photo of some gorse against the chillier than it looks blue sky. I’m hopeful that spring isn’t too far away!