January is over and perhaps the worst of the winter is finished. So many plants in the garden seem poised, waiting for the signal to flourish.
The daffodils have shown their colour but have remained tight closed. Some snowdrops have appeared and the crocus are just starting to open. So different from last January when the apricot tree was flowering on the 10 January 2014.
The Skimmia wisely keeps its buds tight closed.
The Hellebores are only starting to produce flowers but I am much happier to this slower awakening. February can bring cold weather and frost.
The two cotoneasters that were bright with red berries at the beginning of January, have been stripped bare by the birds.
Likewise, the seed heads of the Echinacea are all but bare of seeds.
Despite the heavy rain we have been having which leaves the ground sodden and encourages the weeds to grow, there has been work to do in the garden. Work to clear the end part of the garden and remove some weedy trees continued. We have inherited a fair selection of stones and flatter ones have been chosen to produce a handy hard standing area and some odd shaped ones will provide my husband’s next challenge of building a dry stone wall. This will be for decorative purposes (cough, cough). What else do you do with a lot of attractive limestone boulders? (Hint, we already have two rockeries.)
Nevertheless, the willow has decided it is time to start opening its buds. If it does not open too quickly it should be O.K. for the bees.
Last week the bees on the winter honeysuckle were gathering pollen.
She was getting covered in pollen, obviously enjoying herself after being kept cooped up in a hive because of the rain.
The Viburnum tinus was receiving attention, too. Its pollen is much paler, almost white. It’s not as popular with the bees when there are more flowers around but needs must in January.
The fat balls are disappearing at an incredible rate and there is an increased chattering of birds in the garden. The colours of male chaffinches are looking brighter. The male turtle dove courts the female in the morning as she pecks the seed on the patio but she is not interested and he finally turns his interest to the seeds.
It’s all a bit too early in the garden at the moment.
a french garden 
All still very slow here. Just a few bulbs poking through the earth. As I type this its -4 outside and the garden is under a foot of snow! That’s the Auvergne and our altitude here for you, though down in our nearest town, no snow at all. I’ll keep reading the seed catalogues.
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Ah, the seed catalogues – that’s what keeps gardeners going in January! I’ve squirrelled away a lot of seeds this year and I was thinking of trawling through them soon. At least when it stays cold it stops you from planting too soon, which is a mistake I can make here after a few nice days. Amelia
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Your garden sounds further ahead than mine this year. Winter honeysuckle needs cold to really flower well and mine is the best its ever been. Is the woodland you are clearing going to be for the spring bulbs? It won’t be ideal for tulips if it gets water-logged.
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I’d like to imitate the woods outside of the garden and go for pulmonaria, anemones, asphodel, violets, Solomon seal and any other flowers that might naturalise there. The area has been choked with ivy and over shaded by trees that just seeded there. It will have to be spring flowers that blossom early and will lie dormant during a dry shady summer. It doesn’t get water logged but is too rough to look good with elegant flowers. Amelia
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Your garden seems to be all action. Lovely photos. My garden is under snow this morning.
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Snow makes the garden look beautiful. So much better than looking out at damp and gloom! Amelia
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How lovely to see the garden awakening again. You seem to be weeks ahead of us this year! We still have almost a foot of snow and as I write it is still -5 C. Hope this cold front doesn’t reach you!
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We are in for a colder week according to the forecast with sub-zero lows but today we did not even have a frost. As long as the temperatures stay low enough to stop the trees blossoming too early, I will be happy. Amelia
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The garden is slowly waking up to signs of Spring although it is bitterly cold here. I do envy you having stones in the garden. How wonderful having enough for a dry stone wall.
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It will only be a little wall and whether I will be lucky or not depends on how the construction goes. 😉 Amelia
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Those flower buds look like they are just waiting for someone to say, “Action!”
Like some of your other readers I’m looking out at a blanket of snow and more is on the way. Still, the beginning of February always feels like we’ve turned the corner. I’ll be starting seeds indoors before too long.
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I love that most gardeners get restless by February and start leafing through the seed catalogues or their seed stores! Amelia
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Too slowly
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That’s two posts in a row about flowers and stuff growing as if Spring is here . . . our flowers have another 3-4 wait.
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This is why we retired to France south of the Loire! Amelia
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Amelia, this is lovely and a really hopeful post full of Spring promise, you seem to much further ahead than here, as we’ve had an icy blast, snow and cold, cold wind this week. I’m hopeful that in a few weeks things will take a turn for the better though!
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Better an icy blast now than later on. Amelia
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We just got another foot of snow yesterday so it will be a while before our gardens look anything like yours.
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That’s a lot of snow! We rarely get snow that lies. You’ve not got much chance of seeing a picture of a snowman in my garden. Amelia
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Your mention of the Apricot flowers of last January inspired me to look at your post of a year ago (A January Day)? A lovely flower. The question of the Liriodendron tulipifera was interesting. They grow immensely tall on the Mall in Washington D. C. and the walks have lots of those seed pod remains on them. (I don’t live there, we visited as tourists.) Don’t feel bad that you didn’t notice the flowers! They are hard to see up among the leaves. They aren’t white, there’s green, yellow and orange, tulip shaped so only partly open; three or four inches long I’m guessing? Not too many in NH, pretty far north for them. I love the shape of the leaves.
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Hi, Charlotte – you’ve been languishing in Pending (I don’t know why). I’m much more familiar with my Liriodendron now and also this year http://solarbeez.com/ (a great blog from Oregon that I follow) decided to follow a tulip tree through all its seasons. So I had his in Oregon to watch and my own in the garden! That’s the great thing about gardening and blogging, you learn so much. Amelia
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Here in Oregon I am seeing snowdrops, violets and hellebores blooming. We are having a warm winter and not enough rain. Love your photos!
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Sounds lovely! I hope you get some spring showers to keep those lovely flowers blooming. Amelia
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I loved the catkins and the bees getting busy! So cheering to see your garden waking up when we just have rain and cold, repeat rain and cold!
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It will be a few weeks before things really get going (I hope!), it is just that it can be so nice to have some warm, sunny days while you are waiting for the real thing to arrive. Amelia
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The optimism of living half way down France…( winter’s nearly over!) February is usually our coldest month here, but lovely to see your bees already out and about in your garden,
BW
Julian
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Now that you mention it, I think it probably is optimistic but from now on we can look forward to a lot more brighter warmer days. Amelia
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Yes, here it feels like everything is just waiting and the recent cold weather has emphasised this feeling. I have, however, seen sheltered gardens near the sea in Devon where there are quite a few flowers out. Good to see you managed to have bees in your post!
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I manage to squeeze them in whenever I can! Amelia
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That all looks very optimistic! As others have commented, rather further on than here – snowdrops, early primroses and willow catkins is about it for us. And the birds waking up a bit… RH
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We usually make it a few degrees higher than the south of the UK but we get more sunshine which makes it feel warmer. Amelia
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I always enjoy your bird and bee photos very much. Farmers here are worried about our mild winter bringing on early growth of strawberry and blueberry plants. As you say, it could turn cold again.
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Our camelia looks almost ready to flower but I know it’s always much later than our neighbours. Our left hand neighbours has been out since christmas, the right hand side is just starting so I now it won’t be long now. All I’ve got are snowdrops and cyclamen so far – hopefully yours will flower soon too.
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The plants have their own rhythm, its nice to watch them in bud. My snowdrops are starting to appear more now, they are so late this year. Amelia
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We have had the strangest winter here. Blossom on the trees in early January, daffodils out last week and, on the common rhododendrons in full bloom. My hellebores are nowhere to be seen though.
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It is strange. My first thought is for the poor bees and other insects that must have missed a lot of that early blossom. We’ve had a relatively cold spell that is holding things back nicely at the moment. Amelia
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The trees and plants always look so secretive at this time of year, they know when spring is coming… I’ll enjoy watching the bees bringing everything back to life soon.
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I am keeping my eye on the willow and prune tree and looking forward to seeing the bees in them in the spring. Amelia
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You write beautifully and your photos are fantastic, thanks.
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Thank you. The garden is still mostly quiet at the moment but as we are having more sunny days I am looking forward to seeing everything spring into action. Amelia
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