The garden in February

 

The crocuses of all kinds are putting on a show in the garden now.  We have had a few warm, sunny days.

 

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick  showing its catkins.  Its a lovely little tree at this time of the year.  Its curly branches can be seen holding the long catkins of gold.

closer view of the catkins on the Filbert - Corylus avellana 'contorta'

 

I took quite a few photos of the paths for future reference.  I am also considering making an album on my old web page under gardening.. a page for each year, once I get the monthly albums finished..  This is the finished rock path that goes through the inner garden at the front of the house.

 

This is the view of the woodland path (old mossy sidewalk) that goes from the side of the garage or from the grassy area under the apple tree; into the woodland and around the  garage on the bark chip trail.

Along the right side of this photo you see the leaves of the firethorn.  This bush has become large and unshapely.  This afternoon, I spent a couple of hours trimming it down to manageable height and width.  I have taken it down with a bow saw and a long handled pruner.  I have most of the branches cut up and put into the compost bin.  I just ran out of energy before I finished the job.  

I went out to feed the fish.  I throw fish food into the pond from the deck.  While doing this after lunch today, I noticed a few dandilions in the  pond area.  So, I went down to dig them out.  I also topped up the pond and cleaned up some of the leaves and debris off the little dry stream.  The moss garden along the dry stream is looking really quite nice, especially under the deck.

After I finished cleaning in the pond area, I decided to get on with the clean up of the firethorn... out there in my sandals, no goggles, no gloves.  I managed to get most of the job done with only a few thorn pricks in my fingers and some sore muscles.   All this took me about 3 hours.  It was about 13 degrees and a fine sunny day.