Winter tightens it's grip

Posted on 19 Feb, 2008 0 comments

When I look out at my garden today it looks like it has snowed, at least it does near the house, I cannot see the end of the garden because of the fog. The last few days have been absolutely arctic here. Night time temperatures down to -10 C with the fog delaying the sun emerging to thaw out the ground. So gardening is being done on paper only – a bit of planning for the conifer bed, where we had a fatality last year. I checked my tree paeony seeds and other cuttings and pots that are outside yesterday. All frozen solid but signs of life are there, with fat buds and signs of germination amongst the paeony seeds. We went to a local country house yesterday. Hopton Hall, near Wirksworth in Derbyshire, has a fabulous display of snowdrops and winter aconites at this time of year. We were not disappointed. I’ll post some photos to show you all. It is also a great example of a family recreating a garden that had been abandoned for many years.