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We don’t seem to see pussy willow round here much either. I do like crocuses when there is a mass of them though I don’t have any in the garden. The winter aconite is making a bright yellow splash of colour and I have white and a dark red hellebore in bloom and the witch hazel is in bloom.

I am a bit concerned about the daffodils. They seem to be very late this year. They are only a couple of inches high and they are supposed to be early bloomers. They are called February Gold but at the rate they are going it’ll be April before they flower :-(

Our crocus and daffy are a bit later I think, maybe it is because the garden is saturated. We do have snowdrops out and a few hellebores and winter flowering jasmine. Spring will soon be here.

My snowdrops are up in the orchard. On the way to Bideford there are daffs blooming at Landcross and on the way to Holsworthy.

I still have a few flowers out on the rose that climbs the box hedge. When it really goes to town in the summer it smells wonderful.

Hi Mel, I remember when I first visited my boyfriend's family (now my husband) in 1957 when I was 16 it was Easter, quite early, probably March. at home nothing was flowering but the banks along the road in South Devon (Buckfastleigh area) were covered in primroses and all the spring flowers were out. It seemed much milder down there to home (Hampshire). Yet nowadays there doesn't seem to be quite that difference. However, the daffs at Holsworthy are definitely ahead of ours here in Gloucester. All we have out are snowdrops and crocus and one solitary dutch Iris.

Going back to Mel’s post about daffodils in bloom near Bideford, I remember that my old school in South London used to receive a box of daffodils every January/February from a school in Cornwall.

I love daffs. They seem to have everything - pretty flower, lovely colour and gorgeous scent. I am concerned about mine this year. They are still only about 3” high and they should be blooming soon. I only have one variety in this house. It’s called February Gold and is an early bloomer. At least, that’s the theory but I think mine will be coming out around June :-|

Anyone doing well with pansies this year? I have 3 large pots of them by the front door, a trough by the back door and a few in a bed and none of them are blooming well, though they all look green and healthy. I am very disappointed as I specially bought them at a garden centre miles away from here as the ones I had from there last year were wonderful.

Oh, the joys of gardening...... ;-)

Hi Vera, our pansies in a basket and a trough are all doing well, except ours are not big pansies but violas.
We have three daffs out but big ones not the small varieties. We also now have crocus blooming well and dutch iris, snowdrops and helebores so it is very spring like in todays sun (as long as you are looking out from inside because it is very cold.).

I remember when going down to stay with boyfriend's family (now OH) in South Deveon, sending my mum home a cereal box full of primroses. They were delivered the next day (1957) and survived the journey well. wouldn't risk it now.

What has happened to my daffs this year? They are now about 4” high and showing no signs of blooming. The tulips are coming through now in the same bed so it looks as though I’ll have both in bloom at the same time.

As for the pansies.... :-|. The plants look green and healthy but they aren’t expanding or throwing up many blooms.

The only thing different this year is that we have had a lot more rain than usual but I can’t see how that would have held things back.

On a positive note the orchid I was given the Christmas before last is flourishing and is in bloom again. This is quite an achievement as I am the orchid killer par excellence. In the past I have followed different people’s advice: water sparingly from the top only, water sparingly from the bottom only, mist the leaves regularly, never mist the leaves and so on. My orchids always died. This time I went online and found an “expert” with a different view and did what he suggested. You dunk the whole orchid pot in a “bath” of water and leave it for 15 minutes so it really is wet. Then you take it out and let it drain. Leave it till the roots indicate that it is getting dry again.

It works :-D. I have a healthy looking plant in full bloom with a flower stem that hasn’t grown too tall and floppy. I am feeling very pleased with myself :-D

Well done with the orchid Vera, I have six or seven on the kitchen windowsill but they are allowed to do their own thing (i.e. they are rather neglected), They have been flowering nonstop over about 4 years now, not all at once but there are usually at least three in flower. I sort of water like you Vera, leave them dunked for about 15 minutes, drain and leave until they dry out. I do mist the leaves with an orchid feed mist. I only ever buy them when they are reduced and in need of TLC.

Well done Ann and Vera. I'm sure your orchids are lovely and I can well imagine how great it must be when another beautiful flower blooms on what once looked an almost barren stem.

Friday was a lovely mild,calm and sunny day here, so elder daughter and I went to a country park a few miles away. The drifts of snowdrops growing naturally in a woodland setting were a sight to behold. There were so many and we caught them just right. Most were fully open, with just a few more in opening buds. Beautiful.

Coffee and cake in the park cafe afterwards was good too!

Sounds like a lovely day Gwyn, we haven't got to see our local Snowdrop gardens this year, it has been so wet and they will be very muddy. I do love to see them. Tuesday we are going to Batsford, they do have snowdrops there although not in such great quantity as the Rococo gardens in Gloucester. They also have Helebores and Daffodils so we are hoping for a dry day.

Some of my daffodils are at last showing signs of getting a few buds. Yesterday I was given two pots of daffodils, each with half a dozen bulbs near to blooming. I've put them outside in their pots so I can see them from the kitchen window and when they have finished I will find a spot to plant the bulbs out.

I was also given a pretty little salmon coloured rose in a pot which I will keep as an indoor plant for now but might put in a bigger pot in the garden later. The wrapping said it could be planted out and was winter hardy.

The word has got around that I can now grow orchids and I was also given another orchid. It was beautifully boxed and tissued and celephaned but nowhere did it say what it was or how to care for it. I don't think it is a phalaenopsis (spelling?) like my other one so I shall have to get googling again.

Lots more spring flowers in bloom today :-D :-D :-D

My early daffodils are now finished but more later ones to come. I really need to get out and do a bit of tidying up but will wait until it is a tad warmer ;-)

Lovely to see the spring flowers, lovely and sunny most of the day, rain late afternoon.

My February Gold daffs are at last showing yellow though none have opened up yet. Pansies have had hardly any blooms and nothing is doing really well, apart from the hellebores. I wonder if it has something to do with how wet it has been here. The ground is sodden.

I think that has a lot to do with it and to cap it all I have read it is going to be a bad year for slugs.

Isn’t it infuriating ? My daffodils are at long last in bloom and have now been flattened by the wind and covered with snow again :-|

Even more frustrating is that we are travelling back from Cumbria tomorrow, I am so fed up with snow problems.

Hope you have a good journey back. Stay safe.

We were in two minds as to whether to travel ot not, there was so much gloom and doom around about the roads. However we set off in snowless Dalton at 0955 and, despite there being snow on the fields and hills all the way down there was not a scrap on the roads, only a tiny bit of slush on hard shoulders and traffic was moving normally (except in roadworks of which there are a few. We stopped and had lunch in Keele services at Harry Ramsdens and ir was surprisingly good, so no cooking tonight. The first slush on the roads was on the mall side road from which our cul de sac leads. However our drive is another story and it is a sheet of ice where the snow has thawed and refrozen. So the car is in the garage unpacked. Seems really strange not to be unpacking the case! there is about 6 inches of snow fallen in our back garden.

I'm glad that you had a safe journey Ann and hope you soon have a thaw and can unpack the car without mishap.

My daughter and I travelled via motorways to north Hampshire and back on Saturday and found roads to be as you noted. There was most snow in the area of M26, but that was in fields and edges, not carriageways.

Locally we have had very little settling snow, but we are not far from the sea, so that often makes a difference. Gardens nearby are full of trees in blossom, primroses,daffodils and japonica, with dark purple violets making lovely splashes of colour on grass verges.

My own garden needs a good tidy, but will have to wait until the weather improves........