It is! Spring is on the way! Please don't snow on the snowdrops!

After an unusually early bed time on Saturday night, I awoke with the lark on Sunday and at 815 decided to paint the ugly poo-brown fence at the end of the garden. And my god it looks good! I can see it now and it cheers me.

 The Hellebores are definitely at their height and almost blousy by their standards.

Here the Woody Bay Fennel is sprouting again. While I don't really enjoy eating Fennel I think it is a great garden plant - vigorous and with beautiful airy fronds.

 I wasn't sure about snowdrops but now that these have arrived I can see they they are very pretty.

Despite this next year I think I'll plant more fritillaries and crocuses to keep them rampant.

Mind you, these ones are quite rampant in their natural environment (not my garden, Jamie and I were out walking from this point).

 Now we're talking! Lovely crocuses on the Meadows!

Gardening Greats - William Robinson

Frequently when I'm reading gardening magazines and web sites, there are references to the Irish gardener, William Robinson who remains a key influence to this day. Robinson's views on gardening show clear links to the Arts and Crafts movement with a rejection of foreign influences instead of the natural plants of these islands. The Victorians and Edwardians had been enthused by all the new plants coming back from the Empire and beyond and these were prized and coddled in greenhouses and surrounded by bright bedding plants and standard roses.
Given our current move in society for prizing the local and native, it is not unexpected that Robinson would be a great influence. The idea of a garden that is part of its wider environment rather than an island of colour and artifice is also very attractive. However it is always difficult to turn the clock back, difficult to turn back to a century ago (when Robinson lived) and even more so to turn back to a golden-tinged medieval era. While as a gardener I applaud Robinson's sentiments and aspire to have my garden look like a beautiful winderness, I know I could not turn may back on the amazing plants that just need a little more support to survive here - a price I'm willing to pay.
Robinson is scarily well connected to many other luminaries of gardening - Getrude Jekyll being a key relationship that lasted for over 50 years. In his journal 'The Garden' he published contributions from many individuals including John Ruskin, William Morris and Getrude herself.
Many of Robinson's ideas are now almost law in gardening - mixed and dense herbaceous borders, drift planting and no bare soil to be seen. It isn't actually a wilderness though - this is an aesthetic which needs to be carefully tended and planned to ensure it looks wild. Key to ensuring the human design looks like nature is understanding your plants and how they grow.
Now I'm trying to listen to the Radio 4 programme on him!

Spring - Where are you?

It is only February of course, which is far from spring here in Scotland however I was beginning to hope until the snow came down this morning. Not time for garden jinks but for drinking tea in the kitchen and watching the garden through the french windows.

Hopefully these crocuses are tough enough to cope with the temperature, at least they are sheltered from the worst of it on the window sill with the ornamental cabbage overhead.

Let's relax here in the snow with a steaming cup of something? Maybe if we were Swedish.

On the upside the 2 Hebes are looking great and although I would characterise them are boring and necessary plants, they are paying back their purchase price in droves.

Here are my Hellebores. When garden writers talk about Hellebores they always talk about the shy flowers that hang down. In practise what this means is you cannot really see the flowers and they don't photograph well. Imagine yourself, dear reader in my snowy back garden (no euphemism there). You reach down toward the Hellebore, with it's dark green waxy leaves and cup the cream coloured flower in your hand. See how beautiful it is? And that's snow soaking down the back of your neck.