Blogs with a plant, bird and wildlife mix can have their seasons where postings will favour one over the other. Redressing the balance away from the birds and towards the garden and plants again I thought I’d join Helen with an end of the month garden update.
Coral branches of Acer palmatum Sango Kaku which look brilliant around 9am.
The photo above looks like January is ending with a lovely Spring morning. The truth is hidden though… below these wonderful sunlit branches there’s an overnight dusting of snow. That was a surprise this morning! I headed out with my camera to see what caught my eye…
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Euphorbia stems fallen to the ground… will they pick up again?
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Magnolia buds looking healthy enough. Plan to move this plant to my new pond area.
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Gunnera spikes fallen to ground… will this plant have survived this year’s colder temps of January?
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First Hellebore flower buds… perhaps I shouldn’t have cut down the foliage.
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Wisteria flower buds looking good… need to prune back odd whippy stems missed last year. Second prune to come yet.
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Young meconopsis plants…. either red or yellow flowers but not expected this year. Didn’t expect them to keep their foliage throughout winter… have a blue variety close by that doesn’t. Fav plant of the day 😀
It’s probably a good reflection of January to end it with cold and snow seeing as most of the month has seen very cold temps and heavy snowfall.
This morning at just after 9am I went out for a little while to capture the garden with my video camera. The film below shows how the panning movement doesn’t process as well on upload giving boxed pixels with green and grey especially. It also shows how the wind can make processing difficult too both with picture and sound.
Music has been added to this film as the wind noise was spoiling it but cutting the sound out completely would lose the bird song in the background. I tried to make a compromise. However, despite this I do feel it captures the garden well enough and will be great to look back on at the end of February.
Look out for the new pond area where work came to a standstill before Christmas. You’ll also spot a sledge behind my garden gate that I past as I went from my back garden into the front… the strong wind blew it over. You’ll also notice the snow came on during filming!!
Okay, it’s late and I’ve chatted on way too much for you this week. So I’ll not keep you any longer. I’ll just end with a brief reminder again of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch in the UK this weekend… see here for details. Have fun if you join in!
Wishing you all a great weekend 😀
All photos and video shown above were taken in my garden by me on January 29th 2010.
Euphorbia should be OK. It always comes back to life after a freeze in our area. Thanks for the film!
During the winter months I definitely have more birds than garden to share about on my blog.
It looks like spring is close for you with all of those buds.
Fabulous photo's and footage.. your garden is wonderful, thank you for sharing it with us.
I think it's been a cold night here as we have some frost, but luckily no snow. I think I've seen quite enough of the white stuff to last me a few years thankyouverymuch!
Spring is almost here, it's always great to the buds, such a relief!
Great to see the photos of life stirring in your garden plants.
Loved the video of your garden – even a shadow of the operator at one point. One of my favourite pieces of music as well!
email sent re your comment about blockiness.
An absolutely perfect video Shirl. The music, bird calls and a bit of wind to put us in the mood. Best of all your shadow giving us a wave. A wonderful way for me to start the weekend. I hope you have a great weekend too. Your garden looks to be in good shape for January. I have wished many times I could stroll through your garden.
Signs of a coming spring for sure! We've got ice on the ground too, at least 2" of snow and sleet coming down now. Have a good weekend!
Thank you for the peek into what's happening in your gardens right now. We're still looking at a lot of snow, but it is encouraging to see your early Spring-looking photos and video. I enjoyed hearing the birds chirp, also. 🙂
Thanks for joining me in the end of month view posting – just done mine.
I love your video especially the close up of the perennials, I think at this time of year we forget to look really closely
I enjoyed seeing your garden and video. I saw you waving in it 🙂
It sure looks like there are lots of signs of Spring there even with the snow.
Hi again Tatyana, Robin, Liz & John and hello Shaz 🙂
Tatyana, thanks, it’s still sulking yet. Do you prune your weeping stems back to the base? Glad you enjoyed the film. I’m going to try for a video at the end of each month (time permitting) which will be good to look back on 😀
Robin, yes, I do love to see all your photos during the winter. Ah, that snow didn’t come to much and it looked like things might turn… but the snow is back this morning once more. We’re to get a lot tomorrow too. How quickly the garden changes again… great photo opportunities though 🙂
Shaz, thank-you! I’m delighted you enjoyed the brief tour of my garden. Thanks for stopping by 😀
Liz, oh yes, it has been cold hasn’t it. We were freezing outside on Sunday. I drove two hours north and into snow on Saturday. Oh yes… we’ve had enough of the white stuff too… I’m trying to ignore what has arrived here this morning covering my lawn and paths once more. I’m also trying to ignore the forecast for tomorrow… we are in the large band of white stuff expected over Scotland!
John, it is nice to see isn’t it. LOL… the wave wasn’t planned at all… I only spotted my shadow as I panned out and thought it would be fun. I also thought I’d see if anyone noticed too 😉 Glad you enjoyed the video (and music) and thanks for your email 😀
Hi again Lisa, sweet bay, Shady, Helen and Catherine:-)
Lisa, thank-you! Delighted you enjoyed it all including my unplanned wave 😉 Thanks, we had a busy but good weekend and I hope you did too. Yes, I guess the garden is looking not too bad considering the cold it has had to face this winter. Wish the temps would warm up a little to get some ‘last year’ tidy jobs done. It would be a delight to stroll with you round my garden 😀
sweet bay, yep, looks like it… but still hard to believe when we keep getting further snow falls and freezing temps. It is not the norm here for cold spells to last so long. Wow… I’ve just popped by your recent post and you’ve honey bees at blossom with snow also forecasted… I hope they’ve a warm winter home 😀
Shady, you’re welcome… that snow didn’t come to much here but we got another downfall this morning. Hopefully the warm sunshine will melt it before our predicted widespread snow tomorrow again… just when will it all go away this year? I agree, I am delighted to have captured some buds and life in the garden. I’m never in a hurry for Spring although May/June is my fav time but this year I won’t be sorry to see winter go. Ah… sadly some chirping was lost as I reduced the lengths of the clips. Glad you were able to enjoy some 😀
Helen, you are most welcome! There are so many postings I’d like to do/join in with but time does run away from me a little… well a lot really 😉 I enjoyed seeing your view idea. I’ll maybe adopt that through video if I can. Delighted you enjoyed my video and I agree completely re the perennials. When we’re not looking… they grow up so fast 😉
Catherine, LOL… I’m glad you caught the wave… and enjoyed the video too. Yep… Spring seems to be trying to ignore the snow… just like me… its back again today 😮