........are a plant I love, because of the promise of spring they carry. The meteorological spring is only 2.5 months away. They are poking through all over the garden (a big plus about living in the SW, is that they flower early). See if my flowering record of 29th December can be beaten (I very much doubt it; it's been mild, but not record-breakingly so!).

The great thing is that I feel we've escaped 2 weeks of possible cold already and there is, fortunately, little cold on the charts this side of Christmas.