This is (or was) the biggest of my phormiums in B1. I reduced it quite a lot by cutting all round the base. Unfortunately the inner leaves have responded by flopping as badly as before. Perhaps I’ll get some new growth.

First frogspawn seen in pond this morning. Several dollops in the usual place. Lots of splashing and croaking.

First sign of frogs in the pond today. Lots of splashing and croaking. No sign of spawn.

Nice to have something in flower at this time of year. The sarcococca is said to be scented, but I don’t get it. I’ve now got some nice clumps of snow drops front and back.

First dollop of the year seen this morning. Very mild. The pond has only been lightly frozen on one morning so far this year, but there’s plenty of time for cold weather. Some frog activity during the day.

More spawn next day, including one clump with white blobs on the surface of each egg – the outside, not the nucleus inside. By midday these looked normal.

I’d kept quite a lot of rather small tulip bulbs after lifting them in spring. I planted ‘Don Quichotte’ and ‘Sorbet’ in pots on their own, and ‘Monte Carlo’, ‘Helmar’ and miscellaneous lily flowered tulips in a big bowl. Unless they do surprisingly well I won’t bother to keep tulips after the first year in future.

I planted a 30cm wide terracotta pot with Iris reticulata ‘Purple Hill’ at the top, Narcissus WP Milner in the middle and Tulipa ‘Merlot’ at the bottom.

I got my  plant in August 2019 and put it in a terracotta pot. The plant label said hardy to -5° C, and I’ve kept it outside ever since, but it hasn’t looked entirely happy.

The RHS says it can be kept outside in the summer, but not below +5°C, so I’ve brought it inside for the winter.