Tulip 'André Rieu'

Melissa officianalis 'Aurea' (Variegated Lemon Balm)

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While I may be sick and tired of rain the garden revels in it. My soil is light and can absorb any amount of water without becoming waterlogged. Bare soil is fast disappearing as the plants grow.

Borders filling out

I have tidied up the small rock garden – essential if it is not to become overgrown.

Rock garden

Behind it is a raised bed with some blocks of  Tufa in which are planted Sempervivums and tiny Ferns. I emptied the bed this year, added fresh soil and gravel and replanted. The bed had been rather neglected so now I have space for some small alpine plants.

Raised bed

My Amelanchier is flowering for the first time. I chose this variety because it has an upright habit and should not grow too big. It replaced a very old Pyracantha which I was sorry to lose. The foliage is supposed to have good autumn colour followed by black  berries that are attractive to birds.

Amelanchier alnifolia 'Obelisk'

Amelanchier alnifolia 'Obelisk'

Unfortunately we did have a frost early in the month which caught the buds on my Wisteria. Sadly we will only get few flowers this year. Here you can see one live bud surrounded by brown crispy ones!

Wisteria

Luckily no other plants were affected by the frost so if I turn my head away from the Wisteria I can see lots of colour other than brown. The first hardy Geraniums have started to flower – Geranium phaeum, reliable as always.

Geranium phaeum

More showy are the Bleeding hearts……

Dicentra spectabilis

though this one has bled out :-)

Dicentra spectabilis 'Alba'

One advantage of all the rain is that the pond is full. We gardeners must always look for the silver lining.

The pond

Visit the Patient Gardener  to see more end of the month views from other bloggers.

Narcissus 'Rainbow'

Tulipa 'Spring Green'

Sanguinaria canadensis multiplex 'Plena'

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Now I have lots of space to put the seeds but am constantly worried about the tender plants outside when we  have a frost. So far they have survived and next year I will not be so impulsive. Here they are up by the house, covered with fleece. As I walk by I can here them grumbling “Why do we have to sit here instead of in our warm greenhouse”.

Tender plants covered with fleece

Inside the greenhouse all looks well. On the ground you can see my electric fan heater which keeps the greenhouse frost free. I have had it for over 15 years and it has served me well.

Seeds and seedlings

Here are the Tomato and Chilli Pepper seedlings.

Tomatoes and Chilli Peppers

The Digger’s Brassicas – Kale, Cabbage and Sprouting Broccoli. I like to eat them but tend to leave the growing to him.

Brassicas

The rest of the seeds include Squash, Courgettes, Herbs, Lettuce, and various Flowers.

Assorted seeds

I also have some cuttings mostly Pelargoniums and these Penstemons. I bought a few new Penstemons last year and wanted to make sure I had replacements if I lost any over the winter. As it happens the original plants survived so now I have even more!

Penstemon cuttings

How I wish I had two greenhouses :-)

A Dandelion

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Hellebore

Some flowers go a step further and impress us with more than one colour. I must confess I have a soft spot for these plants. They made a special effort when deciding what outfit to wear :-)

White, red and yellow.

Cistus

Red, green and yellow.

Gloriosa (Flame Lily)

White and purple

Geranium renardii

Red and white

Tulip

Flowering in my conservatory at the moment. and showing pink, green, purple and yellow.

Bilbergia nutans

I am so looking forward to the colours of Summer!

Visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

Primula auricula is a flower that I always think of as old fashioned. They came to this country from Europe  in the 16th Century.  There have been flower shows for Auriculas since the 17th Century and The National Auricula Society was founded in 1872-73. A craze swept the country and they became very popular, grown by all levels of society, rich or poor.

Auriculas at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009

When I was a child this flower was grown in all the local  gardens. They have now fallen out of favour but I rather admire their bright colours and their  refusal to unbend and look more casual.

Lupins at the Chelsea Flower Show 2009

I will finish with an old fashioned method of transport I saw in Belgium.

Ghent Flower Show 2010

Visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

Phalaenopsis Orchid

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For a number of reasons that I will not bore you with we have lost our telephone landline and with it our broadband connection. What was meant to be a delay of a few days before service is restored has now turned into 2-3 weeks.

The whole thing has been so aggravating that we have changed our suppliers and restarted the process from scratch. Hopefully we will have everything back to normal on 7th February but I am not holding my breath.

Computer offline

Here is a pretty flower to lighten the mood!

Snowdrop 'Sam Arnott'