Last week the ground was frozen solid for several days, and after a thaw it is again frozen solid today. So I thought I would use this blog to survey the damage caused and the notable survivors.

1 Cyclamen

Two plants, both the same, planted about one foot apart. On one every flower has flopped and turned to mush. The other one has faired much better, flowers are still upright, perhaps lost a bit of their shine.

I was not really expecting them to survive for another year and so its a bit of a shame that we had such cold weather so early. The leaves still look healthy so maybe there is some hope.

2 Salvia 'Wendy's wish'

The label on this said it was hardy, but some commenters on this blog said it never survived the winter for them.

As you can see the recent freeze has completely …

I completed shredding the last of the inner row of the front hedge. The final total was 8.5 tubs or about 320L. I would say that the outer row is less than half the amount of material as the inner row, so on target for about 500L all told I would guess, maybe a little more. It won't last long!

As I finished it started to snow, so here is a picture of the Sedums covered in snow

Today was very pleasant, sunny and calm albeit a bit cold. Although there doesn't appear to be any frost, the lawn is frozen and it looks as though it is going to be like this for several days.

In spite of the cold, the Salvias don't appear to be suffering yet. The two Cyclamen are also doing fine. Some bulbs are appearing, although they are probably wishing (if bulbs can wish) that they had kept underground for a bit longer given the sudden cold spell.

I don't want to walk on the lawn when it is like this, so I am taking the chance to do an update on my cuttings showing the growth before I trim some of them back. There are six, so I can crowbar them into the Six on Saturday meme.

1 - Lavender (1)

I would like to have lavender in both the front and …

A short round up this month with no pictures. A few plants are still flowering which I think have been covered well enough in the other posts this month.

For me the biggest event was the number of blackbirds that were visiting to eat the Cotoneaster berries. Once they finished the deciduous cotoneaster, they then started on the smaller leaved evergreen one next to it. At the very end of the month, they are starting to move over to the Pyracantha.

I've seen at least six at the same time on a few occasions. They are also keen to hunt through the fallen leaves on the ground, but mostly ignoring the bird food at the moment.

There were also pigeons (I believe wood pigeons but I need to learn to identify pigeons and doves more) eating the Pyracanthaberries. Interestingly they seem to start at the top, on the …

There was a lot of rain this week, but the weather has cleared for the weekend and it was a mostly sunny day with the same forecast for tomorrow.

Of course with the clear weather comes the frost but still nothing serious, everything that flowers "until the first frost" is still flowering.

At this time of year the back garden gets very little sun. It kind of catches part of the back border, and the right corner and has gone by about 1pm.

1 Clearing the hedge, continued..

I have now removed the row of laurel shrubs nearest the house. The plan is to leave the rest until the spring.

So far 12 shrubs have resulted in 6 tubs of chippings which I make to be about 240L.

The remaining shrubs seem to be smaller and planted closer together.

I am happier with it already, if I was going to …

I cut down the final two shrubs in the house-side row at the front of the house today. Cutting them down is the quickest part of the process, shredding them including all the preparation time is the main part of the effort. So far in total there is a full 4 tubs, with another nearly full, so a bit under 200L. I didn't get through all the shredding so there is another two shrubs or so to go.

I spread the 4 tubs worth across the front garden and the back right corner of the rear garden - it didn't go very far.

The star of the operation was this pruning saw I got for under 7 pounds. I didn't think much of it previously - it doesn't close properly and it is on the large side for most of the jobs I've used it for before. Having said that …

Today was sunny and calm, the whole week has been pretty dry with some rain over night on a couple of days. Everything that was flowering last week is still flowering. The blackbirds have started eating the Cotoneaster berries, and the pigeons (mainly, but blackbirds too) have started eating the Pyracantha berries.

But I've done the same 6 or so plants so often, that this week I am going to show the front garden which gets a mention for the first time. By splitting this into 6 sections I can meet the requirements of submitting this as my entry to the Six On Saturday meme, it also being a Saturday.

The front garden consists almost entirely of a wide hedge with a small lawn. I've always wanted to remove the hedge and grow a variety of shrubs and plants there as it has some of the best sun especially in …

It has been a lovely mostly sunny week and today was no different. There has been a slight frost, but not enough to kill anything off.

So here are six things in the garden today, for lots more head on over to the The propagator blog to see what is going on in gardens elsewhere.

1. A daffodil peeks above the surface

The first daffodil shoots are appearing already. Seems a bit early, but perhaps they just stay about that size over the winter. Certainly when I moved in this January they were about this size too.

Last year, there was a lot of Montbretia mixed in with the daffodils, I've tried to remove it all, but no doubt some will have survived.

2. At last - more than two flowers at a time

The Geranium 'Rozanne'has been shown before, but it has never had more than one or …