Spring is on her way............

The days are lightening perceptibly now; I don't need to shut up the hens and feed the goats until about 5pm now, it's really heartening! Still a bit of winter to go, and the weather people forecast a really cold blast in February, but I'll deal with that when it happens.

In the meantime, these little beauties are out on the kitchen windowsill

SACK THE GARDENER!!!

I haven't really got a gardener LOL. MrL has taken it upon himself, with my approval, of course, to do some "cutting back" in the front garden. I'll admit there was a bit of pruning and tidying to do, but I quite like it a bit wild and woolly............... In his enthusiasm he has removed my viburnum shrub - the one with the snowball flowers on, and yesterday he dug up a rare rose that *HE* paid 18.00 for on a special order at a specialist rose nursery for me ( should have seen his face when I told him that bit!!) Sadly, the viburnums eems to have been burned or whatever, so I need to get another one and replant in exactly the same place - I could see it from the kitchen window and it had just found it feet and was starting to flower well. I managed to wrest the green rose from the wheel barrow, bit mangled, but with a flower attached - not bad for through the winter. I can't remember its Latin name offhand, but the flower is green tinged with red and I think it's pretty in an exhuberent, eccentric sort of way, although probably not everyone's idea of a rose, ot to everyone's taste! It comes from China originally, but Cranborne Manor were kind enough to order one in for me, and I then had an excuse to visit their rather lovely garden centre, didn't I?

http://www.cranborne.co.uk/

It's on my to do list for this morning to pot it up and murture it back to health, and again, replant it.

On a good note, he has cleared and dug over parts of the borders under the kitchen window, so I can get the very last of the bulbs in that are hanging around still.

This is the rose