End of Month Review - February 2016

February is such an odd month, it is not one I look forward to nor particularly enjoy.  It tends to be rather grey, often cold and usually icy and rainy.  This February has been like this and I think it has been about six weeks long.  It seemed to be going quickly until it suddenly stopped and started to drag on a bit.  It is in short, an odd transitional month.
The Front Garden looks ok this time of year.  You cannot see the five cypress trees very well that I planted last year as they are rather small, they are however growing well and this pleases me.
The quince hedge is flowering well and getting a little more hedgy every day.
and the sarcocca on the front step is perfuming the garden wonderfully.  I have some seedlings from this shrub now that I have potted on.  I keep visiting gardens with sarcocca hedging, they smell divine this time of year and I can only aspire to having such a wonderful thing.
Into the back garden and it is all looking a bit scrappy at the moment.  It is almost time for it to have its tidy up but the temperature keeps dipping below freezing at night so I am holding off just yet.
The Courtyard is looking quite good at the moment.  Adding in some evergreens was definitely the right move.
In the Conservatory Board some of the hellebore seedlings are now starting to flower.  It has taken two or three years for them to reach this stage but I am very pleased with them.  These are seedlings I had relocated from the Spring Border and it was a good move on my part.  I shall continue to redistribute seedlings as there are few plants I like as much as a hellebore.
Signs of Spring are starting to really get moving now.  The new growth is appearing on the roses.
These anemones have self-seeded in the borders and are flowering well.
The Crown Fritelleria are starting to grow.  I love these plants very much, I planted these out not long after moving here and some years they flower better than others.  They have slowly increased from being three plants to what you see now.  They are much loved by lily beetles as well, damn their red-shelled hides.
I have been splitting up some of the snowdrop clumps and relocating more into the borders.  Don't ask me why I have not planted more into the borders before, it is a total oversight on my part.  I was focussed on planting them out into the Wild Garden but I was missing an important part of growing them.
The Spring Border looks very Springy.  These miniture daffodils are lifting the color really well.
In the Pond Border these sedums are adding good structure.  I divided these and put some more in the border last year.  The new ones are still rather small but I am hopeful they will make their presence more felt this year.
In the Tree Lupin border I planted this camellia the other day.  It has now been frosted and does not look quite so pretty as it briefly did.  I don't mind, that is what happens sadly.
Also in the Tree Lupin Border the Tree Peony has a rather good bud developing.  I have four tree peonies (yes I am greedy I know) and they have good buds on them this year.  This is very exciting.
The Prairie Borders are being guarded by Esme, who looks as cross as she generally is.  I will soon be cutting the grasses back in these borders and then they will look awful for a couple of months whilst the new growth starts again.
The Woodland Border/Bog Garden is not looking great, but I like to tell myself that it is just waiting for its time to shine.  It has been waiting quite while.....
The Wild Garden has lots of bulbs either just flowering or just going over.
The seed heads are starting to swell on the snowdrops.
The Edgeworthia is still thinking about whether it wants to flower or not.
and the Carol Klein acer is getting ready to leaf-up.
The catkins are starting to unfurl and the red hazel flowers are standing by for the pollen on the twisted hazel.
In the veg beds the purple sprouting broccoli is broccling well.  You can see that it is now being harvested and new shoots are forming.  This is such a good mannered vegetable, no glutting here.
and the petunia exserta is still surviving.  It has been through a few hard frosts but it carries on regardless.
I finish as ever on the pond which is looking very full.  It has some algae growing well in it too.  I shall be having to sort this out before it really becomes a problem.  I am still removing parrot-weed as and when, I am determined to keep it more under control this year.
Thanks as ever to Helen for hosting this meme.