Aucuba japonica ‘Variegata’, Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ and Fatsia japonica planted out from pots. Also some rather weak Evening Primrose plants from Dyffryn. The spirea is actually looking quite good again.

The middle plant, which I cut back to the ground, can come out when convenient. The other two have responded well to heavy pruning.

This S (N facing) fence is the least well covered of my boundaries. It is also very windy, as the west wind funnels down the gap between my house and my neighbours’ to the S.

The golden hop is good in summer, but dies right down in winter. The ‘Gloire de Morengo’ ivy will be good in a few years.

The acer is pretty robust. This is the first year it was scorched by a very high wind a couple of months ago, even though it wasn’t very cold.

Possible shrubs to go here:

• Aucuba japonica ‘Crotonifolia’
• Cotinus coggyria ‘Royal Purple’
• Euonymus

The abelia doing well in a pot at the front could go in the middle of the patch of persicaria, although the RHS says it needs a ‘sheltered, sunny position’.

Ideally I should cut these back and remove the cat protection to reveal the glorious bulbs underneath, but of course there aren’t any because when they should have been planted the nepeta were in full song. Solution: raise bulbs in pots and plant these out now? Supermarket bulbs in pots are not really big enough, but they may be better than nothing this year.

9 Feb 18

I planted 6 sprouting plants each of ‘Tête-à-tête’, ‘Minnow’ and ‘Jetfire’ from Homebase. Each plant consisted of at least two bulbs. Also some dwarf viola bedding.

30 Mch 18

Very good result, particularly considering all the frost and snow we’ve had this year.

The snowdrops I planted in the green last spring are small but healthy. These positions, especially under the hydrangea, should be suitable for some time. I should choose a few more spaces which I’m going to retain for spring bulbs and add some more snowdrops there.

All the lower leaves fell off cleanly, leaving these two. They look slightly odd, but they seem to be healthy and are not shading the bulbs beneath, so I’ll try leaving them