January has been a pretty quiet month in the garden.  It has been cold and wet so far with a touch
of frost.  There a few things to be
sorted out before spring though, such as, moving the Rodgersia and the Royal
fern, as they are far too close to the walls now.  This isn’t good for the walls and it also means
that the plants are forced forward and tend to collapse on the plants in front
of them.

Ramp corner Rodgersia and Royal fern

 I would really like
the large Polygonatum multiflorum to be completely dug out.  It used to be on one side of the chimney by
the ramp, but it has spread to behind and around the other side of the chimney
and is now coming up in front of it too.
Also I have found the very beautiful, but very destructive Liliocerus
lilii (scarlet lily beetle) on it.  It
has had it’s leaves stripped by slugs, snails, saw flies and now this so I have
had enough.

Lilioceris lilii (scarlet lily beetle)

The front hedge has been rather poorly cut last year (sorry
Harry) and it is really needing a proper cut.
This will have to be done before the birds start nesting, although if I
was a bird I wouldn’t nest in it looking like that!

Front privet hedge with bad cut.

Behind the garage we used to have 2 apple trees which have
now been re-homed to our good pals shared tenement garden.  The apples were tasty but were not keepers
and I am the only one who eats apples here.
Now I can choose what to do with that area.  That small border only has a few cyclamen in
it, but it only gets sunshine from the one side.  Maybe a clematis or honeysuckle would cope
with that area?

Behind the garage.

There are a few bulbs just popping up here and there, mostly
snowdrops, and some of the hellebores are flowering a bit.  There is still plenty of greenery in the
garden due to the many evergreen plants and shrubs so it doesn’t look
completely barren just now.  Roll on
spring for a bit more colour.