First signs of snowdrop flowers. Small but perfectly formed. There’s scope for lots more, particularly round large herbaceous perennials, like thalictrums, which have now been cut right back.

First frogs seen in pond. A cwtch of three.

Some santolinas, salvias, agastaches and erysimums look as though they might have been caught by the frost this last winter. I’ll give them another three weeks to show signs of life before replanting.

The new bamboo in front of the garage seems to have survived the wind, snow and cold, to the extent that it’s thrown up new shoots which are growing a couple of inches a day.

Several small terracotta pots have had their rims shattered by the recent frosts. Some big pots have been cracked. The only solution is probably either glazed pots, and I haven’t seen glazed pans, or expensive frost-proof terracotta from Whichford Pottery

First tadpoles seen today swimming about. About half the frogspawn looks as though it survived the big freeze.

Coldest spring day on record. Not that nuch snow, but very fine, and the wind has blown it into deep drifts. Rather poor photos illustrate the weakness of the phone’s camera in these conditions. I hope the frogspawn survives.

Phyllostachys aureosulcata from Homebase in large Sankey ‘Smithy’ plastic pot. (Large version of the pots I use for Brugmansias). Label claimed it had AGM, but RHS said this only applies to the spectabilis form which my plant may or may not be. Anyway, it looks great.

1 Feb 18

It seems to be standing up well to the high winds we’ve been having recently

Yes, I know they won’t last.

The yellowish hardy fuchsia in F2 was damaged by very strong wind last night. A large branch, supporting ⅓ to ½ of the plant’s foliage was broken underground. I cut it away just above the ground. Let’s see how it recovers

Brugmansia in front of the garage is doing well, and hasn’t been blown over thanks to the new pot supports.