Snapshots of the garden in winter

On a grey, chilly winter’s day there is plenty in the garden to smile about.    There are numerous birds visiting on a daily basis –  Long Tailed Tits, Blue and Great Tits, Robin, Bullfinch, Thrushes and Blackbirds to name but a few and the very first bumble bee of the year.   I heard him/her buzzing in the vicinity of a mahonia for a couple of days this week and then finally I managed to take a photograph.   What a busy bee!

Snowdrops are coming into flower thick and fast.   Galanthus S.Arnott is always the first to flower and lasts for weeks.   We are trying to naturalise Galanthus nivalis in drifts in the Spring area of the garden and here we also have Galanthus woronowii which is starting to spread gently around.    This snowdrop is distinguishable from others by its bright green, broad leaves and icy white flowers.

The first daffodils are flowering, sadly I can’t remember the variety.   All I can remember is that they are from a Cornish grower.

We’ve planted hundreds of Crocus tommasinianus again in the Spring area hoping that they will spread and form a purple drift.  One year they came up very thickly and although I can now see their slim flower heads just coming through I think that maybe squirrels have eaten many of them.

I also seem to have plenty of leaves to gather up from the borders as can be seen from the photographs,  a job for the weekend maybe!