To me, gardening should be enjoyable and part of that is that the weather should be enjoyable.  Well that certainly isn’t the case at the moment.  The UK experienced its second coldest March since records began and the Easter weekend was hardly the gardeners’ paradise we tend to expect. Pictures on the TV of holiday makers making castles out of snow rather than sand were rather surreal but focused the mind on the inclement weather.

I’ve wrapped up warmly and got on with the major pruning jobs, but I’m finding that the desire to get outdoors is somewhat limited at the moment.  So, what I am doing is gardening with my eyes – looking at the garden from all angles (including from upstairs windows) and planning what will need to be done as soon as the weather improves.

Hellebore virus

One job that has become obvious is that two of my hellebores will have to be sent to the great compost bin in the sky.  Last year, I thought that the pink one on the right had suffered from frost damage and so decided to give it another chance.  This year, it has become apparent that it is suffering from a virus and that now the virus has spread to the parts of of white one on the left that are closest to the pink plant.  This is really sad as both plants are fairly mature and they are right by my back door and I have enjoyed looking at them from the warmth of the house.

Like all gardeners I will make the best of this opportunity to plant something new in the space giving summer interest for this year and then next year I will have the pleasure of finding some new hellebores for the space.