I bought a lovely hydrangea the other day, which I was very excited about. It’s a blue one, which means I need to go buy some make-hydrangeas-blue powder, otherwise it will turn into pink hydrangeas, and we can’t be having that. I’ve put it in the lovely terracotta pot Mum gave us as a housewarming present. it used to have the lavender she also gave us, but I’ve taken that out and put it in the front, in the vain hope that a little more sun will make it come back alive… I fear that my hope is illusory, however. I don’t think it actually will come back to life. Very, very sad about that.

The hydrangeas, though. They’re special.

Hurrah for Spring.

I got my first viola yesterday! I am so excited; it is beautiful. And it reassures me that the other plants might also eventually flower, in their time. All of the plants at least look healthy, so that’s a good thing.

I also have a couple of daffs in the back yard, which is blissful. And the roses are taking off like weeds after I fertilised them. And… I have one helleborus with flowers on it… the other one that’s been in the ground a while hasn’t flowered and doesn’t look remarkably happy. The new one I planted (did I mention that?) does look healthy, so hopefully next year will reward me with some winter roses.

And I managed not to kill the daisy out the front; how remarkable.

I’m very excited. To start with, I bought a little punnet of mini cyclamens, which make very good presents. I also bought a new helleborus – one of the ones I got last year is flowering beautifully; not sure the other is very happy though. And the other part is that I’ve added some stuff to the front garden that I am hoping will turn out well. On the right, I’ve planted some alyssum – I did this a while ago but didn’t water it enough and they withered through neglect. On the other side, I have pulled out half the creeper, and added some totally gratuitous cottage plants, which I hope will survive and flower for me: delphiniums, foxploves, snapdragons and violas (I said it was gratuitous). Here’s hoping.

Yes folks, it is winter, and we all know what that means… it’s Rose Mutilation Time! (Hurrah.) Not that we ought to be feeling too sorry for said roses, though, since they do have very nasty thorns and they do know how to use them to great effect (yes, I own gardening gloves; what’s your point?). Anyway, my roses are but faded shadows of their former selves, which ought to see them go nuts in about three months’ time, with any luck. Worked like that last year, at any rate, although I guess Mum was here for it then, and she’s probably a bit more ruthless than I am when it comes to snipping. I have tried my hardest this time, and I think there are few places where Mum would tsk me.

Now all I have to do is remember to fertilise them.

I bought two new little ones at the Garden Show, which is exciting – they’re very hardy, so hopefully I won’t kill them. The one Kate gave me seems to like me – it now has its second shoot (I think they’re officially bracts), which is sooo cool. The first shoot still hasn’t had a flower; I’m hoping this will happen sometime. I’m also hoping that I have got three with completely different flowers, because that would be great.

So yes, the hedge no longer exists. At least not in its previous state; instead it is sitting, all roots up, in the middle of our courtyard. We got all excited on the weekend about changing the garden – partly as a result of J giving me The Small Garden Encyclopedia, which gave me – and him – all sorts of ideas. Like building up a pile of soil in a broken terracotta pot and planting bits of succulent, which has turned out pretty well. It also made us interested in changing the courtyard a little more substantially.

Originally, J was wanting to be pretty extravagant – build a deck, extend the garden bed by a metre or so. It turns out, though, that the pavers are attached to concrete, which means both of those things would be quite difficult. So we have settled for pulling out the hedge, which I must say has made a huge difference. Originally we meant only to pull out half of the hedge, so the courtyard looks a bit stupid because only half of it has mulch and new plants. But we figured that, while we were at it, we might as well do the whole thing. J has promised to take the hedge to the “waste reduction centre” before my party on Saturday…

And, hugely exciting, I got some dahlia tubers from a woman at school today… 21 clumps, to be exact. I gave some to other people at school, which was good, and I’ve also planted a few out the front and a stack out the back. Some of them have already started sprouting eyes, which is very cool.

Yay.