Welcome! I garden on a one acre plot in north Leicestershire. Most of the garden is planted with native trees and shrubs. There’s a small pond, a mini water meadow full of marsh marigolds and lady’s smock, a small vegetable plot, greenhouse and poly tunnel. I grow as many flowers, fruit and veg as I can in containers and small divided beds. I aim to have something to pick from the garden every week of the year. This post is for my mum who can’t easily visit at the moment and the photos give her a flavour of what the garden looks like today. You are welcome to join me on a slow stroll around the plot as I seek out anything cheerful at this time of the year!
When there are plenty of flowers around, these cyclamen hederifolium barely get a second glance, but in January when everything is bare, the patterns on the leaves draw me in. I love moving from one plant to another comparing the intricate markings. No two plants are the same.
These grey-leaved cyclamen coum shine out in the shade under the ash trees. Soon they will have dainty white or bright pink flowers.
These are just starting to flower and there’s plenty of buds to open. They thrive under deciduous trees, flowering before the leaf canopy emerges.
I found some small brunnera plants. These have blue forget-me-not flowers in spring. They grow in deep shade alongside the cyclamen.
Arum italicum can be a thug, spreading all over the garden. But in deep shade, it is fairly well-behaved. It has bright orange berries and creamy white spathes. Good foliage for jam jar flowers.
When there’s not much to see, grasses provide a ‘stop and stare’ moment by the pond. These are beautiful all year round, and especially on a windy day.
I’ve never seen eranthis hyemalis flowering so early. Temperatures have been well above average all winter, but it’s also been extremely wet and most of the flower borders are under water again today. 2023 saw the wettest July to December period on record for the UK. Records started in 1890. With the ground already waterlogged, the recent rain has caused massive flooding in our area. The River Trent in Nottinghamshire burst its banks. Homes and businesses have been flooded out. It’s heartbreaking to see so much damage. So I won’t complain about my garden. It will drain away naturally and all will be well. Luckily I’ve taken cuttings of all the salvias and penstemons that are currently waterlogged, so there’s a back up plan if they don’t survive.
Shrugging off the wet weather, hellebores are starting to flower. These came from John Massey’s Ashwood Nursery near Birmingham. Some of these have been under water this week, with just the flower buds bobbing about in the air.
Early flowering snowdrops looking slightly muddy. Mrs Macnamara is a reliable variety and bulks up fairly quickly. Luckily it’s a very tall snowdrop – and as you can see, survives a few days under water. I think we can say it’s definitely robust!
The wildflower patch- now a bog! Luckily the greenhouse and poly tunnel are on higher ground. We have had to check for stranded goldfish as this area is alongside our pond.
Anyway, today there was sunshine. And the top of the willow trees look golden against a bright blue sky. A moment of joy after all that rain. Tiny grey pussy willow buds are starting to show. And there’s catkins on hazel and alder trees.
Monty is a good barometer for the weather. He’s been hibernating indoors during the rain. But today he emerged and set upon the straddle stone as a watch-out post, keeping his paws perfectly dry. Now as I write this he’s back in front of the fire, and I’ve checked the weather reports. Snow is forecast!
Snow will look pretty atop these black rudbeckia seed heads. I leave them for natural bird food and structure over winter.
I’ve left the flat sedum heads too. I just can’t call them by their new name. Hylotelephinium sounds like a type of outdated phone rather than an ice plant!
Some feverfew seed heads remain. Nothing spectacular, but I feel like accepting any tiny glimmer of beauty at the moment. It’s a quiet time, and I’m not being too fussy. Just grateful.
Eryngium Miss Willmott’s Ghost, looking more ghostly than usual. Looking closely, I found a ladybird and a lacewing, headfirst, nestled between the seeds. Peacefully may they slumber until spring.
Well, even I admit these are ugly, but there’s a certain something in those dark brown seeds emerging from the peony lutea pods. They glisten like amber in sunshine. Mum grew some plants from these and they flowered for the first time last summer. Seven years after sowing!
Planted underneath, in deep shade, there’s plenty of Skimmia Kew Green. Such a gorgeous scent in spring. Much overlooked in modern planting plans.
A quick peek in the greenhouse. Always plenty of gorgeously-scented pelargoniums and citrus. Sadly, the big white patch at the end is polythene patching the glass due to storm damage just after Christmas. A big end panel will have to be replaced. And then a careful clear up as there are shards of glass in every plant pot.
However, still seeking joy – I found a ladybird in an aonium.
And some pretty fuchsia leaves looking healthy in amongst the lemon trees.
A hairy, peppermint-scented pelargonium. To rub these leaves is to be transported.
There’s new shoots. Daffodils for cut flowers soon.
And food. Herbs such as thyme, marjoram, parsley, and micro greens. These are pak choi, sown in October. They can be eaten as tiny leaves now, or left to grow on. I take the leaves from the outsides, and the centre continues to grow.
Hens enjoy the heat in the greenhouse over winter too. They are only bantams, so don’t cause any damage and search out pests most assiduously, particularly vine weevils.
A ceramic bird I couldn’t resist. Bought from The Green Man in Staunton Harold. See my post on a pre-Christmas visit to Calke Abbey and Staunton Harold. Recommended for a day trip.
Thank you for joining me on this ramble around my garden. How has your plot fared in the rain? I hope you didn’t suffer too much damage in the recent storms. I haven’t been able to keep up with the names of the storms, there’s been so many! Please do leave a comment in the box below and sign up for e-mail notifications for new posts. Have a lovely weekend!
Bramble Garden 
It is good to see the progression and you have plenty to cheer you at the moment. Your garden seems more advanced than ours or it has more to offer at the moment. The bottom of our garden was flooded for a couple of days but it has all dried out now and is not even soggy. Best wishes for a garden full of flowers in 2024. Amelia
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Thank you Amelia. All the flood water has gone down now and I’m emptying the compost bins and mulching the borders. All the well-mulched borders did better in the floods than the empty beds. All the best for your gardening for 2024. Exciting times ahead, we hope! Karen xx
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Happy New Year from Canada. Wonderful photos! I have never seen Arum italicum before. I would love to try some in my shade garden. Warmer than usual here too, but I will still have to wait until April for the bulbs.
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Happy New Year! Thank you for reading my blog. Yes, do try the arum. It’s a very useful ground cover plant. Glad it’s warmer than usual for you. It’s just starting to turn cold here and we’ve had two nights of frost. All the best. Karen
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Hi Karen
Lovely to look round you’re garden, I’m dead jealous of you’re Skimma,mine doesn’t look that good. Lovely to see Monty, he’s got a lovely fluffy coat on him.
Can’t wait to start out there again, I get so bored. Would love a trip round your garden if anytime you open for charity.
Have a very happy gardening year and best wishes to your mum. Thanks Chris in Melton
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Hello Chris, must admit, my red skimmia doesn’t look as good as the green. I give them a really good mulch of home-made compost over winter and they seem to like that. Monty is looking very fluffy with his winter coat. I’m having to brush him every day as he comes indoors trailing all sorts of debris, lengths of bramble and dead leaves! He’s like a feline magnet for garden rubbish! Bless him! Thank you for your best wishes for my Mum. She’s doing well, thank you. Just not travelling here any more. She can get to the local shops though. But we are 25 miles and it’s too far. Have a great gardening year. Thanks again for reading the blog. The radio gardening is now on a Tuesday at 3.10pm with Ben Jackson, if you listen to bbc Radio Leicester. All the best, Karen.
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Despite all the rain your garden is coming alive with spring flowers already, and some beautiful foliage too. All the seedheads and grasses I left standing in the autumn were squashed by snow in December and now my garden is a brown soggy mess, so I am more than happy to see your plants Karen! We have had storms too and right now it is blowing a gale and is several degrees below freezing. I am hibernating! LOL!
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Thank you Cathy. I never fail to be amazed at the resilience of plants. Everything they go through, and yet they still come up smiling and flower for us in spring. Hope you don’t suffer too much damage in the storms. I must admit, I feel like hibernating too! There’s plenty of brown soggy bits here, but I overlooked them and will have another look in a few weeks to see if there’s anything stirring there. All the best. Karen x
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Thanks for walk around your garden ,enjoyed it very much ,wish mine was as big , although at 91yrs perhaps not my daughters are in charge now ,couldn’t do it without their help, but thank you any way …look forward too next one !
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Happy New Year Jean! Must admit, an acre is a bit of a worry as you get older. I’ve just decided to let half of it grow as woodland which I’ll enjoy just as much. The area around the greenhouse I can control, just about. It’s easy to think we can still do the same amount of work as when we were in our 20s! Anyway, there’s much to be grateful for. Thank you for reading my blog and having a walk around my garden with me. Enjoy your garden. Lucky you have your daughters to help. Mine have not long left home so they have their own new gardens to attend to and we go back and forth helping them at the moment. Take care, and best wishes. Karen x
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How lovely to read this detailed report of your garden, Karen – wirh you living so ‘close’, it is especially interesting to compare our gardens. Sorry to hear about your bogginess – our garden is fine, as always, but there has been more localised flooding than most of us can remember – we had to make a long detour via the motorway one day last week! Sadly, all the flooding here then drained into the Tame and then the Trent, exacerbating the Nottinghamshire floods… Best wishes to your Mum – I hope she can make it to your house soon.
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Thank you Cathy, luckily I haven’t had to travel anywhere, but feel anxious for friends and family having to negotiate detours and wet roads. The garden will recover, but our neighbours are all farmers and their winter wheat is under water. Have a happy Sunday. Let’s hope there’s a change in the weather soon. Xx
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At least travelling in the daylight means you could see the flooded roads in good time – in the dark you have less warning and can be caught out. Farming is mixed here, but there is usually barley at this time in some fields, but not as yet this year
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Barley is so pretty in the summer. We had it at the back of the summer house last year and it was like watching the sea as it swished about in the wind and created ripples and waves. Very tranquil and beautiful.
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Yes, I like to see the barley fields too – it just seems to be so much more ‘of the earth’ somehow
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A wonderful post! A lovely walk around your garden without having to get wet.It is so dark and soggy this winter it is most kind to share your beautiful corners with us!
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Thank you Cathy! I think the poor gardeb will freeze tonight. I’ve just been out and felt a few soft snowflakes. I can visualise a giant skating rink! It will be difficult to stay upright with so many frozen puddles! Enjoy your Sunday! Thanks for joining me on my garden rambles! Xx
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I just feel better after taking that walk around your garden. So many bright spots, including that blue sky. Hope you get some relief from the rains.
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Thank you for joining me on my rambles round the plot. Do hope we are over the worst with the rain. Freezing temperatures predicted for tonight. Have a great Sunday! Xx
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