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| Hawthorn flower buds ready to break at Westport Lake, Stoke-on-Trent on 28th December 2015 |
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Happy New Year!
It's resolutions time and one of mine was to spend less time randomly browsing the Internet finding Tory policies to get angry about and more time on my blogs. At this time of year, this blog tends to get neglected in favour of the 'welfare rights lit' one,
'Benefits, Books and Biscuits', as I allow my fictional characters to chill out in their favourite pub, where they relax between novels, telling tales (making movies this year) and, in the process, keeping keen readers up to date with developments in their lives. After all, it's not as if there's much going on in the garden...
Except this year, there is a surprising amount of growth. We seem to be experiencing a peculiar hybrid season with some autumn flowers and fungi still in bloom amid early signs of spring everywhere. It was a shock to see a dusting of white frost on the garden when I drew the curtains this morning since it hasn't been properly cold at night since,,, probably July, actually.
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| Rudbekias in flower, South Bank 19th December 2015 |
We don't have daffodils in bloom up here but, on a pre-Christmas visit to Hampshire and Sussex, found them out in parks and gardens across the south, while rudbekias continued to put on a show under the gaze of the London Eye. When we used to visit family in Cornwall at Christmas, we got used to finding primrose flowers peeking from the hedgerows, due to the mild microclimate of the Lizard peninsula. This year, they are out much further north and east, along with bright yellow celandines, spotted in the verges of the A24 near Dorking.
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| Primroses - Southwater, 20th December 2015 |
In our garden, there are roses still flowering but also 'Christmas roses'. I split and moved some of my hellebores this year, hoping for a bright display through early spring, but they have been blooming for over a fortnight already. The winter jasmine is also out and looking much less spindly than usual. The veg plot continues to produce as if it were autumn - we had a picking of fresh salad leaves from the cold frame with last night's dinner and plan to serve calabrese and romanesco with tonight's meal - unless the purple sprouting broccoli is already ripe. They surely won't fruit but there are flowers on several strawberry plants. Again, I despair of a decent rhubarb crop...
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| Fresh salad for dinner, North Staffs, 31st December 2015 |
Our recent winter walks have also shown mingled and mangled seasons. Great crested grebes in fine breeding plumage skim across lakes fringed by woodlands full of fungi. Hawthorn flower buds await no more than a touch of sunlight to burst open. On our narrowboat over Christmas we heard blackbirds and thrushes serenading well into the evening and as part of a distinctly spring-like dawn chorus. Nature is thoroughly confused. The woodpigeon couple we've nick-named Hilary and Tom (followers of the
Solent Welfare Rights Project books will get the reference) certainly think it's time for romance!
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| Flourishing fungi, Westport Lake N. Staffs 28th December 2015 |
We're promised a cold snap this week. Whether this will reset the clock for plants and animals alike, or simply strike down those brave bulbs that have pushed through the soil too soon remains to be seen; most early spring flowers are able to handle a little frost and snow. Animals and insects that should be tucked away for the winter may suffer badly; migrating birds and the bugs they predate are likely to be out of synch too.
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| Great crested grebe, Westport Lake, 28th December 2015 |
2016 is certainly going to be an interesting year and, as I may have to resume commercial gardening again before long, I must resolve to keep better records of what thrives and what fails in these unpredictable times.
