Icy Garden

The temperature dropped last night to minus five degrees centigrade. The garden had a frosty covering over the plants and grass this morning. I love the icy filaments that have formed on the leaves of these Rhododendron. The white ice crystals highlight the colours of the leaves and flower buds.

The birdbath has frozen up again. It has a lot of water in it so its a solid block of ice. The sun is trying to warm up the shivering earth now.
Its the RSPB's Big Garden Bird watch Weekend. You count how many birds you see in one hour of sitting looking. You can post the results online or via snail mail to the Rspb. They work out across Britain the health of the native garden bird population.
The cold weather has sent rarer species into peoples gardens for food. My rarest bird was a male Chaffinch. He ventures to the feeder in the Apple tree. Chaffinches are shy of people, and rarely come into gardens. They prefer feeding in tree tops away from people instead.
The frost hardens the ground, and makes the green leaves of the bulbs show up. There are hundreds growing now in the garden borders, and at the front of the house along the grass.
I cant believe its the last day of January already. It has already been a challenging year with work stress, and the threat of us moving again.
We were looking at houses to buy around this area of Wakefield. My first interest is always whats the garden like? Cat looks at the room sizes, and house fittings....
The two areas of a house I love are the Kitchen (I love cooking and baking), and the garden. As long as there is something to garden then I can start planning once we have moved in.
I have moved around lots all over the country. I guess if we have to move on then I will salvage my best plants and re pot them up ready to be transferred. When we buy a house then I can plant my Apple tree that is in the pot, and my Lilac Tree. I have never wanted to put my roots down before. After 36 years I am happy to be here with Cat.
Gardening is my passion (along with wildlife, plants, flowers, and birds) and its good to have someone who is interested in the same things.
We can build a dream garden together.