I have always prided myself on being an all year round gardener but the last few days have found me lurking inside. Freezing fog and icy ground is a bit of a challenge to the keenest gardeners. I made a quick sortie to see if anything was looking good in the greenhouse and then came back in to sit by the wood burner. I am going to paint the kitchen sometime soon, but I have to steal myself to it. I’m not one of those people who treat the pandemic like a competitive sport. All that bread baking and making things, I feel tired at the thought of it. I can work six hours in the garden without turning a hair but I can’t get involved with this crafty or earth -mother stuff. Of course we walk and cycle, but I don’t keep a record of it. I met a couple of neighbours recently who told me gleefully that they had walked over a thousand miles during the pandemic, he’d painted the house throughout and she’s done loads of sewing, including making all her Christmas presents. I had to come in and sit down with a cup of tea at the very thought of it all. And why have they counted all those miles? Is it just so they could tell people like me and make me feel lazy and inadequate? Maybe I shall invent a few skills to boast about. I’ll tell them I’ve been very busy with my macramé wall hangings and crocheting covers for all my lavatory seats and all my friends’ lavatory seats. Actually what I have been doing lately is the biggest time waster of all. But when I’ve finished my jigsaw, I’ll write a novel and yes, I’ll paint the kitchen. But not yet.

On the way, to the greenhouse, I snapped a little primrose, Galanthus ‘Three Ships’ and Clematis cirrhosa ‘Wisley Cream’ but that is as far as I got. It is just too cold for flower spotting. If you put your nose right into ‘Wisley Cream’ it is fragrant, I’d never noticed that before.



In the greenhouse Camellia ‘Yuletide’ is glowing bright.

And I love the little hoops of this Narcisssus bulbodicum.

The house is usually full of flowering plants for the festive season, pots full of hyacinths, hippeastrums, little daffodils, cyclamen and colourful primroses. But this year as I don’t go into shops for fear of catching the dreaded lurgy, I rely on my trusty orchids which never let me down, they bloom year after year.


This is at least the fourth consecutive year that this beautiful slipper orchid has bloomed for me.
Next to it I have this pretty Cambria orchid.

And this is a gorgeous dark-flowered Odontoglossum orchid.

Cymbidium orchids take up a lot of room and they don’t always reward you with blooms. They live outside in a shady spot in summer and have a root trim and a new pot . The flowers are worth waiting for.

Another reliable plant which blooms every year is the lovely Veltheimia bracteata. It has glossy leaves and flowers like pink red hot pokers. It is a bulbous plant which produces offsets so you get free plants. It lives in the greenhouse but I bring it inside whilst it is in bloom.

So no festive poinsettias for me this year but that is no loss, I dislike them anyway. I much prefer my lovely orchids which bloom for ages.
So that’s all for now, I have to get back to my macramé. I wish you all the best my friends, with good health and what we all long for – our lives back with all the richness of family, friends, travel and adventure. And lots of gardening fun. A big thank you to all my blogging friends for joining me here at the blooming garden and for sharing your gardens. Our shared interest, your blogs and all your comments have been a big help in getting through this annus horribilis.
Happy New Year!