February 2019: First flowers, snow and heatwaves

The weather has been bizarre this month – both cold and hot. February started off with a light dusting of snow and culminated with heat waves which broke meteorological records for winter temperatures in the UK. I was working from home on the 14th and so thought I might venture out at lunch time. I was taken by surprise by some bees who were enjoying the crocuses; it felt like summer hearing them buzzing around against the backdrop of bird song and sunshine.

Our first proper day in the garden was on the 24th, where we took the time to do some early spring pruning; this included all the woody shrubs as well as 2 of the clematis. It felt awful to cut these down by a 3rd but that’s what the guidance said… I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see new shoots appear soon – all fingers crossed. The sounds of bird song in the morning woke me up for the first time this year on February 22nd – we are so lucky to live close to the common to experience this. I’m looking forward to the end of spring when the dawn chorus is so loud.

I’ve realised that if I take the time to look close enough, there are so many signs of the garden ambling towards spring. The climbing rose that we tied in at the end of last season has produced quite a lot of new growth along the lateral stems. The hellebore that we planted last spring have slowly been blooming this month – they’ve also been sending up fresh new growth which is exciting. Other signs of life include the rowan tree which is budding  – I can’t wait for the leaves to unfurl.

Final thought – we saw siskins for the first time on the bird feeder this month; we’ve also spotted some house sparrows flying in and out of the eaves…