Yesterday afternoon was warm and pleasant after a grim start to the day, warm enough for me to drink tea sitting on the porch steps, but not warm enough for the crocuses to open. Today dawned sunny, blue skies from shinning white peak to shinning white peak with just a few little clouds, and by the afternoon the two crocus buds had opened wide, the snow on Path was hardly bigger than a footprint and all sorts of tiny crocus buds were showing colour.

I set off across the garden for the first time this year, the snow was hard enough to hold me so no wellies full of snow which was nice. I managed to drag a disintergrating eco leaf bag off the top of one of the tulip containers at the back of Porch and yes, there are sprouts searching for light underneath. Further along under the snow bank against the porch is another container with the tulips growing through its leaf bag lid. I can’t pull the leaf bags off or move the containers yet as there seems to be a layer of ice under the snow. Maybe I will have another go tomorrow when it is supposed to be warm again.

I went over to the spruce well which is bare of snow, the Vinca is green but not lively. At the corner of Centre which is clear of snow, the first of the brilliant pink species tulips have bright red sprouts. I untied the Forsythia – even if we get more snow, it is in the spruce shadow so it is not going to get damaged. The container of tulips on top of which I put a cardboard planter needs attention, as the top planter is full of water and frozen to the one underneath. Perhaps I will be able to get the water out tomorrow, I don’t want the tulips to rot.

Then on top of the snow, I followed roughly the path between the East beds. Lots of tulip sprouts all along the back of House. The snow bank was high enough that I could almost reach the top of the trellis to pull down the clumps of clematis vines at the top. I need to take my secaturs tomorrow and trim them properly as I yanked them down from my uncertain perch on the crumbly snow bank. I notice that the stems were green where they broke with at least one green sprig of new leaves. Even though the garden is still deep under the snow, plant life is stirring. So no doubt is the insect life, there was a very dozy fly sunning itself on the porch.

Photos: the two crocuses bloom; looking across the garden from the spruce tree; species tulip sprouts in Centre; seedheads on the clematis; standing on top of the largest mound of snow in the garden!