December | 2019 | Cardesque Garden

So Christmas is over, I do hope you all had a happy festive time. A few good days with unusually mild weather has certainly brought the squirrels out to play. They are digging in ever plant pot, and pulling out the cyclamen and other small bulbs, and generally being a bit of a pest. Harry put chicken wire over some pots to protect them from little paws, but it can’t really be done over some other pots. It doesn’t look very attractive but it does work.
We did get a rather noisy, colourful visitor over the last few days – a green parakeet! I don’t know if he/she is an escapee from somewhere near, or if it is one of those that have now found a home in Edinburgh. Apparently they originated from the foothills of the Himalayas so they have acclimatised well to living in the UK. So far, I have seen him eating the last few berries of the Rowan tree, and either the buds or flowers (or both) of the Viburnum. He has been getting mobbed by the crows, jackdaws and magpies but he doesn’t seem overly bothered by them. I did read somewhere that in areas where there are flocks of these noisy parakeets, the chattering and vocabulary amongst the other bird species increases. We shall see (or hear). As much as it is nice to see him, I don’t fancy have a flock of them around, making a racket and eating everything in sight.

Green parakeet eating Rowan berries

Green parakeet eating Viburnum buds or flowers (or both)

well we did have a couple of beautifully sunny, but freezing days here, but now it is back to the drizzly rain. The poor wildlife, the pond and bird bath were frozen over so I have to keep taking out fresh water for them. I do hope my frost-proof terracotta pots will be ok – we have had so much rain that most of my pots are waterlogged despite some of them being on little feet, or under the bench or table. As much as I detest being cold, I love taking frosty photos, so out I go, wearing loads of layers to brave the chilly weather just to take some snaps – so here are just a few. The sun is low at this time of year so a lot of the garden gets no sunshine at all, but when it does hit the frost, it twinkles. The frost crystals on the saxifrage are so long that it makes the normally flat rosettes of leaves look positively fluffy.