Farewell to February and Painted Stones

I find it hard to believe that February (and Winter!) will be coming to a close at the end of this week. It has been a wet and windy month and I have not been out in the garden as much as I would have liked, though have dashed out in the brief spells of dry weather, mainly to tidy fallen branches and clear some of last year's dead growth.

I was in lovely Cheshire for a few days last week and hurried into the garden almost as soon as I was home to see what had changed. Thankfully, despite more stormy weather while I was away, our fences and trees were still standing. A buddleja had been badly damaged by the wind, but they are resilient plants and I am certain it will recover.

Despite the greyness and seemingly incessant rain, the temperature has been relatively mild and the plants in our garden seem to be embracing the coming Spring. The forsythia and flowering currant are already blooming and the crocuses and daffodils are bringing splashes of yellow, purple and white to the borders and river bank. Whilst the snowdrops are starting to fade, the little cowslips are looking bright and cheerful and the peonies and crocosmia are sending their shoots upwards in an effort to find sunshine. Elsewhere around the village, daffodils seem to be everywhere, male catkins are dangling from alder trees and pussy willow catkins are irresistibly soft.

I am particularly pleased with the way my two flowering quinces have settled in and flourished this past year, particularly the white variety (I believe it was Chaenomeles speciosa 'Nivalis'), which is situated in a more sheltered spot.

Looking forward to brighter weather, the children and I have also busied ourselves planting sweet pea and sunflower seeds and have enjoyed unleashing our creative side by painting pebbles scavenged on our last trip to the seaside. Sometimes, like others in the village, we hide painted rocks for other children to find. However, this time we retained those we painted to add to the little rock gardens the children created last year.

As we prepare to bid farewell to February, I hope March will bring some brighter, drier weather as I am really starting to feel the pull of the garden, however the forecast for the coming week is not very promising and (much to my children's excitement!) may bring snow. The following excerpt from John Clare's poem "February" seems to sum up the situation well!

The sunbeams on the hedges lie, The south wind murmurs summer-soft; The maids hang out white clothes to dry Around the elder-skirted croft: A calm of pleasure listens round, And almost whispers winter by; While Fancy dreams of summer's sound, And quiet rapture fills the eye. Thus Nature of the spring will dream While south winds thaw; but soon again Frost breathes upon the stiffening stream, And numbs it into ice: the plain Soon wears its mourning garb of white; And icicles, that fret at noon, Will eke their icy tails at night Beneath the chilly stars and moon.