A Year in the Life of a Lady Gardener - December

December can be a month when gardening is not only possible but also a pleasure.

The current December is not one of them;

the current December is a nightmare. 

I am sure there must have been a cold as well as dry and frosty day, how else

could I have taken this photo, but the memory of it has long been flushed away by the incessant rains.

The only crop worth recording are these three Father Christmases.

They too have seen better days, perhaps I must renew them for next year.

I have managed to salvage some evergreens,

holly, variegated laurels and pine for pots standing outside the front door.

Only the holly berries are live, the red leaves are artificial.

I was going to add the leaves of Mahonia instead, which are in the process of turning,

but love you all though I do, the rain was too heavy.

The Mahonia will still be there in January, but I might have been swept away,  or sunk deep into the mud. 

You surely wouldn’t have wanted that, would you?

The last picture of my castle for this year,

not strictly in the garden, of course, but just over the hedge.

Rosehips provide the only colour.

And, finally, may I wish you all a 

Merry Christmas

from

Heath Chapel

900 years old and still standing ready to receive choir and audience for 

a wonderful carol concert in its ancient walls, frozen both in time and temperature.

I’ll be back after the holidays.