Spring - a matter of life or death?

Inside the house is as cold as outside because the decorators are stripping the hall, stairs and landing and have flung open windows and doors with gay abandon. The living room (where my computer is) currently has no door at all, so I'm wearing several layers, furry boots and a fleece blanket too - trust me, this is not a good look for a romantic Valentine's Day. Good job Himself's away on business really!

Outside it's cold, grey, miserable and doing the whole rain/sleet/rain/hail/rain thing, so I thought I'd look at the photos I took yesterday during a very brief sunny respite from the rain!

It's been a funny winter so far (funny peculiar, not funny haha!) We had all that snow and intense cold in December, then lots and lots and lots of rain ever since. Several trees got damaged from the sheer weight of the snow, but it's only now that I've been able to see the full extent of the damage to the plants. Good job the wonderful spring life cycle has started up again then - although it didn't feel like it was going to at one point. Everything is a bout a fortnight behind!

Snowdrops on the rockery below the front terrace.

Wet Hellebore ....did I mention it had been raining here?!

Winter jasmine strangling the light at the top of the front steps - it's not a problem, the light doesn't work anyway!

Hellebore Nigra. I split and moved this one last year so I was really glad to see that it had survived under the snow.

The 3 phormiums haven't coped well with winter!

I'd been planning on moving the largest one (the one nearest the house) this spring as it had become way too dominant up there. At least now I only have to dig it up and it's only about a third of its previous size now!

Crocuses are poking their heads through the dead and very soggy remains of the geraniums. I don't know if they'll recover given that they've been frozen, buried, defrosted and drowned!

This is one of the branches that broke off the big fir tree at the side of the house under the weight of the snow. It's about 9" in diameter .........

and has left a big gaping wound in the tree :(

Another smaller branch fell off the same night and the tree surgeons have had to cut 2 more branches off because they were cracked and dangerous, but they reported that the tree remains intrinsically sound, so that's good news even if the tree does look a bit lopsided now.


We lost a chunk of fencing in the gales last week and I'm not convinced that the saplings have survived either - but I don't know what they are anyway, I found them in a border!

I'm planning on grassing most of this soon - once I've sorted the fence out

I don't think the Mexican Mock Orange is going to bounce back somehow - it's only tolerant to -5, rather than -15 and two feet of snow!

No purple sprouting broccolli this year either - and it was doing SO well :(

More tree damage.

These conifers were all weak spindly multi-trunked specimins that I wasn't particularly fond of, but I didn't expect them to collapse under the weight of the snow.

The tree surgeon said they'd had it and wouldn't recover, so all 9 - yep, 9 had to come out
.....mind you, much as I was saddened by their demise I have gained a large chunk of extra vegetable garden - once I've sorted out the manky fence !!!

I'm sure you're all fed up with my tales of the potting shed fire, but guess what survived the inferno?

Yep - the wood!

I'd stored a whole mass of kindling and logs in the back part of the building. It's all covered in soot and the plastic bags have melted, but it didn't burn! The wood was the only thing that the cleaning firm were able to rescue for me. Hope it burns on my wood burning stove!

I obviously didn't clear my new salad bed as well as I'd thought I did last spring given the number of crocuses that are popping up!

New buds on the blackcurrant bushes - lets hope for a monster crop this year :)

The heather bank is just begining to come into flower. Another week of torrential rain and sleet and it'll be perfect! Did I mention how wet it's been here of late?!

May spring be dry and bright where you are - 'cos it's obviously not going to be dry here! :)

I blame the jet stream!

At this time of year the jet stream normally sits well up north between the UK and Iceland, bringing warm, sunny dry weather to our shores. This year however, it has been stuck firmly over the southern part of the country, bringing lots and lots of rain throughout August - and may possibly be responsible for both the extreme heatwave in Russia and the devastating floods in Pakistan.

Naturally enough, we were on holiday in August - and it was wet. VERY wet!

It rained during part or all of every single one of the 12 days that we were down in Devon. We're not talking gentle showers here either, we're talking torrential downpours worthy of November or February ........ the only positive thing about the rain was that it was warm!

However, being the roughty-toughty Northerners that we are, we were prepared and didn't let the rain stop us doing anything - but I'm very glad we weren't camping this year!(we were staying with my lovely sister-in-law, Sal, and her family). The weather caused my Yorkshireness to sneak out one day when the rain began and I yelled "Oye, Andy, chuck us me cag!" Sal's partner, Josh - a southerner, had NO idea what I'd just said!!!

Lavish praise will be heaped upon any non-Yorkshire dweller who can work out what I meant! :D

We went up onto Dartmoor - land of endless skies............!

We did a walk up to the Avon reservoir about 5 miles from where we were staying. The day started off well, although that 3 inch deep stream wasn't supposed to be there according to the map! :)

The thick moss on the dry stone walls should have been a bit of a clue to the general dampness really!

The gentle summer stream trickling down the rocks!

The dam we were heading for - with its overflow in full use.

Our original plan was to walk round the reservoir and back down over the moor via the remains of a pre-historic settlement - but the clouds gathered, the clag came down and the heavens opened so, rather than risk being on Dartmoor without a compass or much visibility, we went back by the route we'd come up, still managing a nice respectable 10 miles.

The rain eventually let up just before we got back to the village, having done about 4 miles in the downpour! Himself's trousers aren't two-tone, it's just that we were walking into horizontal rain! Our walking boots were drenched and although our jumpers were in the backpack they still had to be dried out when we got back.

The rain has done wonders for the colours on the gorse though :)

Having failed to see my pre-historic settlement, we decided to visit the pre-historic stone rows, a menhir (standing stone), cairns and stone circle at Merrivale instead a couple of days later. Couldn't find the stone circle, but the stone rows were quite impressive and I've always had a bit of a fondness for menhirs!

Yep ....another walk, more clag! That stream was a bit of a puzzle as it was higher than the surrounding ground and appeared to follow the contours of the hilltop rather than a more obvious route. It also appeared to be lined with rocks - did pre-historic man divert a stream away from a ceremonial site?

Whilst me and Himself debated why pre-historic man should want to build things in such isolated, bleak places and wondered what they were used for, Last-Born chipped in grumpily with her theory that they were probably bored! It has to be said that she really wasn't impressed by either the ruins or the weather!

Many of the numerous ruins, stone circles, remains of settlements etc that scatter Dartmoor are in a fairly straight line running south west to north east and are on ley lines apparently - but it still doesn't help us understand what pre-historic man was up to.

One of the stone rows and its guardian stone.

The menhir.

Even Dartmoor shouldn't be this wet in August!

This is normally a nice view point!

The sun did come out sometimes, so we did a little bit of this.....

and a bit of this........ Himself on look-out duty from Totnes Castle!

and even a brief bit of sunbathing inside the castle!

and one day we even managed a very nice 6 mile circular walk along the coast and back to the pub in time for a late lunch!


We also visited a few stately homes and gardens ......... but more of that next time :D

Wisteria Lane ....and then some!

It's been a wet, windy and chilly few days plus my computer isn't working properly as the internet connection to the house is via a microwave link and has gone intermittently squiffy so, as I've not been able to blog, email OR garden reliably, I decided to cheer myself up with a few photos of the wisteria at the front of the house as it has slowly blossomed (in spite of the weather!) whilst the computer is actually working - hope it doesn't pack up half way through!

Enjoy!

The first hints of blooms begin to show.

The Wisteria has gradually sent out shoots to climb the drainpipe near the front door. It's a bit more sheltered there so they have bloomed slightly earlier than the main bush.


The pre-blooms look feathery-soft.

A single self-set poppy peeps through the fronds.


Up close and personal.

The Wisteria in full bloom.
The scent has been wonderful this year - if I could bottle it, I'd wear it all year round. I know many people love the fragrances of Lilac and Lavender - so do I, but Wisteria in full bloom beats them hands down!
I've had all the windows open on dry days and the perfume has drifted gently in filling the house with its glorious perfume. It is so evocative of warm Spring days ......if only we'd had more of them this year! (if only we had smell-o-blog so that you could share the scent!)


The blooms are beautiful even in the rain.


I love the raindrops on the petals.


Even I can eventually have enough photos of Wisteria, so here are a few different plants and flowers to delight the eye.

An Azalea just opening up - on yet another rainy day!

The same bush a few days later ....and sunny!

The Labernum trees have been fantastic this year too. I think they must have liked the long cold spell.

In the back garden, just above and to the East of the house.

Senetti glowing and brightening up a dark, shady bed.

Plants and ornaments waiting to be planted into the Japanese Garden. Their time will come!