The winter flowering cherry is in bloom. It's not just ours, I noticed one studded with flowers in the car park of a local church. I mentioned it to a friend who said that hers wasn't out, before remembering that she didn't grow it. I'm on my second, the first having suffered a half death by drowning when the water table rose under it. They like good drainage, cherries, and I wouldn't recommend planting one anywhere that's liable to get periodically squelchy.
It is unseasonably warm, and I'm making the most of it tidying more edges in the back garden, though this morning I veered away from the edge and started clearing the mess of elder seedlings and ivy stems in the far bottom corner. Although it's on the list of things to do I wouldn't say it was the single most urgent thing, but I was passing, and it's been so mild that some plants I'd been planning on cutting down as I got to them working my way back up the hill are still in active growth. Remembering Rosy Hardy's advice I am waiting until Salvia uliginosa has died back naturally before cutting it down, and borders tend to look silly with most of the contents chopped down and a few isolated clumps left in place, so I might as well get on with some other job while I wait.
I found a few brave seedlings of Bowles golden grass, Milium effusum 'Aureum', tucked in among the ivy stems. The original parent plant was a present from a friend, but I thought I'd lost it several years ago, then last year some seedlings popped up, but then the rabbits ate them. It was supposed to be bringing a glint of light to a shady corner, though by now the corner might be too shady. I don't suppose I'll get a chance to find out until I can get rid of the rabbits.
In the afternoon I let the hens out, hoping that they would stay with me while I weeded the gravel and the paved square next to the formal pond. They did, excellent and estimable chickens. I am still trying to work out the identity of several seedlings with fairly thick, sword shaped leaves. Are they Watsonia or stinking iris? They are quite near a couple of Watsonia, and not so close to any iris, on the other hand Iris foetidissima is pretty good at getting around. Fortunately I like it. I am sure that the young plants right under the skirts of Watsonia pillansii are more Watsonia, and to have it naturalising in the gravel would be quite something. I should have given the leaves of the mystery plants a good squeeze and a sniff, to see if they have that stinking iris roast beef smell. The weather pundits are still talking about the possibility of a sharp cold spell in February, so I'd better wait and see how many Watsonia I still have by March before getting too excited.
Less welcome is the red leaved creeping oxalis, which thrives in the gravel and thence seeds itself into the pots of tender stuff I put out for the summer. The oxalis is almost impossible to eliminate. Ignore the qualifying 'almost', oxalis is impossible to eradicate, short of spraying the entire front garden with Agent Orange. However carefully you try to weed it out a fragment of rooted stem or underground tuber will remain. A dose of glyphosate makes the top growth shrivel and appear dead for a couple of weeks, then the plant bounces back. Nowadays I just fork out what I can, knowing that it will be back and I'll have to do it again.
Fairly soon I'll want to start on the long bed. It will be a big job weeding and mulching all of it, and the spring bulbs are probably starting to come through even now. The question is, can the hens be persuaded to come and scrape around in the long bed with me?
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