colours of winter ..

forgive my gloating .. it's just that i'm so thankfull to i live where i can watch so many  gardens growing throughout the winter .. thankfull to have helped phil plant this garden which he designed specifically with winter in mind .. and thankfull to observe the magic of growth here from january right through to december .. i know, i know .. i'm a blessed gardener .. (aren't we all) .. sometimes i wonder why i waited so long to get here .. ah, well .. all things in their time, i say ..

"there's so much to say"

so i've been keeping an eye on the winter flowering garden over the last couple of weeks .. through foggy .. damp .. wet .. and cold weeks .. knowing that the time has come for this year's performance .. watching the prelude .. waiting patiently for the main performance .. and now my reward .. the winter flowering garden's beginning to ooooze more and more colour .. despite the weather ..

i have to tell you again, too, that i've had a wonderfully enlightening time with the witch hazels in this garden this year .. two in particular .. below are pictures of hamamelis x intermedia 'diane' .. who deemed to begin her act way back in november .. i was delighted .. "such early colour," i thought .. "i can hardly wait until she drops her tendrils" .. well .. i waited .. from november last year until now .. and actually .. i am still waiting ..

buds crack end november/12 .. 

around january 10/13 ..

january 23rd .. or thereaabouts 

movement has been slow .. to say the least .. especially when comparing 'diane' to her cousin just across the way .. below is a picture of what the buds of hamamelis mollis 'pallida' looked like in november ..

around november 28th ..

then in december .. the buds are as tightly wrapped as they were a month ago ..

december 24th ..

but then .. come the new year .. there's a shift in the atmosphere .. colour breaks .. and   comes tumbling out .. beautifull ..

january 16th ..

a mere week  later .. voila! .. tendrils tendrilling .. red flowers emerging .. wonderfull ..

i don't recall ever being so aware of the difference in the movement of growth between these two beauties before .. it fascinates me .. and yet .. that's why this garden is here .. to bloom during the winter .. to entertain the senses ..

and, it isn't just the witch hazels that are playing their part .. the cyclamen coum have arrived, too .. i love these little beauties .. they're clustered throughout the garden .. under shrubs .. around hellebores .. and they pop up here and there .. like this very light pink variety growing under an abeliophyllum distichum in the back yard ..

cyclamen coum ..

and this lovely darker pink one which grows en masse in the front garden .. this one opened right up just the other day .. the first of many yet to come ..

pink cyclamen coum ..

not far away in the same bed under the witch hazel 'pallida' are these beautifull  snowdrops .. this particular one comes very early in the winter ..

snowdrops ..

all these little guys, who live closer to the ground, create patterns of vivid colour under the shrubs throughout the garden .. throughout the winter months .. little by little there are splashes of brilliant colour coming .. through these darker .. dimmer days ..

and truly .. it's only january .. there's a couple of months of winter to go ..

how about your garden? .. do you have the opportunity to watch it growing during the winter? .. or, is it quietly encased in snow ..