The
first snowdrops have burst into flower in my front garden and are featured in
today’s ILFORD RECORDER together with a shot of the winter jasmin and winter
pansies splashed with raindrops.
Last
spring I happened to mention to Pat that I had little luck with snowdrops
flowering after the first year. You must buy them “in the green”, Pat told me.
And do I went online and discovered that I could buy from a nursery in
Somerset. I ordered my “in the green” snowdrops at a cost of £25 and was
somewhat dismayed and flummoxed when just one bulb arrived. Fear not, said Pat,
for next year you will have two or three blooms and each year they will
increase until after a decade you will have a veritable field of snowdrops that
will be the envy of the neighbours. Well, Pat was right for this year I have
two flowers with a possible third creeping up in the background. I have the
spot clearly marked for should I pop my clogs, Heather will dig them up to
transfer to her garden. For we cannot allow an investment of £25 to get lost
can we? The yellow winter jasmin has been in my front garden for some 25 years
or more. One Christmas Una brought a small root from a plant in her garden and
it has blossomed every year in the hardest of winters. The winter pansies were
purchased on Ilford Hill and sit in two baskets on the fence. And the forecast
is for snow next week!
