We have the first flower/bloom in a year in my garden right at the moment. It is Camellia. It was already here when we moved in so I don’t know the specific horticaltural name unfortunately. It is ‘the red blossom one’. The blossom is rather nice but it had a tough few years. It was maybe because that Blue Tits seem to like pecking the buds and it was not given the chance to open them properly. Although it does not have millions of blossoms even this year, it created good enough number to admire. Well done Camellia. You made me very happy.

I don’t do any gardening during winter. When the sunlight starts becoming slightly brighter and it gets warmer, I notice the first sign of spring in my garden. I can see it even through the window of the back room. When I notice this first sign of spring there is one thing I have to do. Although the sky is brighter, the air is still quite cold so I often hesitate to do the task and delay…

What I see from the window is Clematis, Clematis on the trellis which stands right next to the back room. I can see tiny buds are appearing from the almost dead looking stems. During the growing season Clematis’ stems tangle up each other and it goes in all sort of directions. It is only in its dormant period that I can see the structure of the plant without any leaves. You should tidy up and navigate the stems to the right directions right now so that it will look good in summer time.

Buds are starting to appear from almost dead looking stems of Clematis

But you must hurry to do the task! Because once you notice the newly appearing buds, they start to grow very fast. If you hesitate going outside, it will be too late to do the task and the leaves are tangled up in the blink of an eye. Almost every year I hesitate to go outside a little too long and struggle to do the task properly later.

However, this year, I managed to do it already without any hesitation. I even re-painted the trellis. No tangling at all.

Oops, some leaves are painted as well.

I just hope the Clematis flowers well this year. Last year it was not its best at all.

Happy Gardening.