I’m a bit worried as I’ve only stuffed the centre of my tree ferns with straw.
In your exact area, what was the minimum temp last night?
Mine was -7.5c last night, so pleased I did the heating cable. It’s the prolonged freezing temps that can cause problems.
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I agree, I lost some about ten years ago when it was very cold for a couple of weeks.
I’ve always had an idea about this and here’s my attempt. If anyone thinks hanging Christmas lights on your tree ferns is a good idea, please don’t. It’s the most laborious and fiddly task you could ever imagine, and you get micro hairy fibres all down your neck. Just put an inflatable snowman out instead.
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My garden project nears completion. The patio is now complete and looking wonderful!
Tomorrow the patio will be grouted, the pond fittings will be installed, and the small Japanese garden will go in.
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Looking sharp Steve…….hope its a good spring so you can get out and enjoy.
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Some time back we planned some Groundworks and Building work…to cut a long story short and not wanting to start a new thread, the builders started late July and just finished…
An extended patio, flagging, balustrade, crazy paving, and a ‘Bothy’…
Some piccies (apologies if too many) :
Extended patio, flagging (re-claimed), and balustrade -
Bothy @ end July -
Bothy now, with crazy paving (re-purposed from original patio)
View of Bothy looking in -
and looking out -
Bothy from the garden -
It took a little longer than expected, however well pleased.
Merry Christmas to All 
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And very nice too……enjoy your new outdoor space asap.
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enjoying the Bothy already… 
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Looks wonderful, so tastefully done especially the Bothy. Will you have a hifi in there?
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Thanks
During the 1st fix, speaker cables were installed ready for wall mounted speakers…and the system.
System is NAD C700 streaming amp - ATC HTS7 wall mounted speakers - Chord Odyssey speaker cable.
The Nad is under the Bar…
Sounds nice…
Merry Christmas to All
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The first of the crocuses appeared on the Green on New Year’s Day – spring is on its way.
Over the next six weeks thousands of crocuses will carpet the area.
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Isca,
May I be so bold to reveal my complete ignorance of gardening by asking if it is now too late to plant bulbs for spring flowers? I ordered a few boxes and there were terrible delivery problems which meant they only arrived in December and I didn’t have the courage to plant them. I live in London if that helps guesstimate climate conditions. I think there are 400-500 in total.
Peter
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The traditional time to plant spring flowering bulbs is Autumn, between August and November depending on the type, and seasonal weather conditions, but before the first frosts in any case.
Now that the seasons seem to have gone haywire it’s hard to predict what might happen, with some bulbs emerging very early in warm spells over winter. I would be tempted to plant them anyway in the current mild weather, rather than store them for a long time. Hopefully if they don’t flower too well this Spring they will settle in ready for the following year.
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Cheers ChrisSU
Weather permitting I shall give it a go this weekend. The weather systems appear to be very confused - I saw a headline on BBC today saying some Alps skiing locations are expecting temperatures nearing 20 Celsius. In January!!
Peter
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Hi @northpole - no harm in putting them into the ground now as they are unlikely to be of any use if you wait til the autumn. If you have tulip bulbs in your collection, they will certainly be fine. You can plant them right into December - and we are only a few days out of that. (Some bulbs benefit from late planting - e.g. lessening the risk of ‘tulip fire’ disease.)
If you plant them this week the ground will be relatively warm - and hopefully we’ll get another short cold snap before the winter is out (some bulbs benefit from vernalisation). As @ChrisSU points out - the seasons have gone haywire - and so have some of the planting rules. Post some pics in the spring.
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Looking forward to the pictures of the crocuses ,
On the late planting theme , our local garden centre was selling packets of bulbs at 50p, so got a couple - planted them just before and just after Christmas.
My hope is that being planted so late, they will actually flower at the right time
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The seasons truly are awry, having cleaned and refilled the bird feeders, I noticed this
I have no idea of the variety, but this clematis normally flowers late May/early June
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I’ve been looking for something like this for a good many years but could not find anything in my price range. If this is a success I’ll get a new one; this one was gifted to me and I spent the morning setting it up, after I had picked up my seed potatoes and some broad bean seeds.
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Make sure you strap it down well. They tend to move a considerable distance in a strong breeze.
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