The Garden at the end of January

The snowdrops have started to appear during the last week.



There is the odd splash of colour elsewhere - Cotoneaster horizontalis



and the Skimmia japonica 'Rubella'



We have decided it's time to do something to the border that runs along the bottom of our neighbours garden. The fence is about to collapse (replacing that may feature in a future blog) but for now we have decided to remove the cherry tree which shades the border in Summer and is not a very good shape. It doesn't look very tall in this photo...



... but when you are vertically challenged....



....you call in the professionals - or you hack at the upper branches, trying to ensure you don't decapitate yourself in the process and try to look as if you know what you are doing by wearing a hard hat.



Annie and Clarabelle decided to have a dust bath as far away from us as possible.



Only when we had finished for the day did they re-appear. You will note that the trunk is still standing. I decided it will be a nice feature but I think it has an appointment with a chainsaw sometime soon.