Still chilly out there…

yesterday saw snow, sleet and rain. Today, so far, a bit of sunshine and a chilly wind. Out in the front garden, the daffodils got a bit flattened by the snow and rain, but they have perked up again. The mahonia is looking a lot better this year, compared to the same time last year, and is flowering quite happily and smelly lovely. A brave hoverfly landed just as I was taking the photo. The tiny sulphur yellow flowers of the epimedium and looking good and so are the white vincas. I found loads of snails camped out behind the epimedium. There are a few little grape hyacinths coming through but not flowering yet. Out in the back garden the hellebores are all flowering (some better than others), some primula are flowering, pulmonaria is up and has started flowering, the snowdrops have all gone over, the iris reticulata haven’t flowered yet (although they were out this last year), a few pink corydalis are flowering, and a few chinadoxa too. It is a bit windy to get good crisp photos. The crow swooped down just above my head and landed next to me, and proceeded to follow me around the garden like the robins do. He didn’t mind me blathering to him either. The magpie was trying to get to the fatcake and not managing very well. Funny how we always think of them being black and white birds. I caught the blue colour of the wings but not the iridescent green of the tail. Still looking forward to some warmth of spring proper.