Moss

The snow did some damage - as it went it brought down the wooden gutters from around the front bay window. I think wooden gutters are quite unusual even in Victorian houses. It was only round the bay - the rest of the original guttering, most of which has been replaced, was cast iron. I have decided to use it to edge the border in the front garden so that when I put some bark down the birds will not just chuck it all over the path. It is full of apple green moss with tiny rust coloured stalks peeking through. They provide a welcome bit of green so I'm leaving them in place.

Ivy

My garden walls are made of old brick which has lovely red and orange tones. The ivy comes fom the garden next door which belongs to a block of posh flats. Every year I have to cut the ivy back but it's a never ending battle. You can see the marks in the brick where I have pulled off previous years' growth. I think they look a bit like fossils in the brick.

Corkscrew Hazel

I really like the tangled up knottedness of this plant. Although it never thrives (it's probably in too small a pot) it keeps struggling on year after year. As you can see the pot is infested with all kinds of weeds at the minute. I'll have to tidy it up and give it a new top dressing this week. maybe I'll even be kind and give it a new pot.

A Hebe Under Pressure

Here's a little hebe from the front garden rockery - the first living thing to appear on this blog. It's a soft hebe but I have no idea of the variety. At present it is in danger of being choked to death by the blackberry whose leaves you can see growing through it. The blackberries have had a good time for the last eighteen months and have spread all over both gardens. But I shall fight them off - armed only with the secateurs of righteousness and the gardening gloves of justice and the dibber of truth.

Self Seeders

First job of the new year - get rid of the self seeded trees. There are two large sycamores in the garden next door at the front. At the back it's an ash. One way or another there is never a shortage of baby trees pushing their way up where they're not wanted. And having had 18 months to get a hold some of them are five or six feet high and the roots go very deep. Today I removed the smaller sycamores from the front garden.

There's not much to look at at the noment so here's some dead leaves. Cool.