In the garden – Snow time

We arrived back home on Saturday evening, after spending Christmas in London, to find everywhere covered in snow. There is nothing that strikes fear more in Londoner than the prospect of dealing with snow. The Junior JibberJabbers were of course delighted and couldn't wait to get out and play in it on Sunday morning. There may have been a few renditions of some songs from Frozen – 'Do you want to build a snowman?' and an adapted version of 'Let it go' to 'Let it snow'. Meanwhile, I decided to do an inspection of the garden.

A solitary chive has survived the snow and was just poking its head through. This one is slightly away from the house and got the full onslaught.

The other herbs fared a little better as they have been sheltered by the house. Thyme is pretty hardy anyway and the snow doesn't seem to have affected it all.

Thanks to the mild weather up to now the summer geraniums have remained green and still had flowers on them. I'm sure the shock of the snow will have them turning black very shortly!

My white hydrangea has been getting leggier and leggier over the past few years and a great big dumping down of snow has not helped it. I fear some serious pruning will need to be done this coming spring.

The bamboo also hasn't been treated well by the snow. Half of it is still standing but the rest is looking rather flattened on the lawn. There is plenty of it so if it has to go it won't a disaster.

With all these wintry scenes there are signs of spring in the garden. The buds on the flowering currant are showing. This is very important as behind it on the wall is an open bird feeder which in recent years has been used as a nesting box by blackbirds and this year robins. The flowering currant provides vital cover for them to bring up their broods.

Round the front the garden one of the daffodils seems to have made a pact with the white fuchsia. Yes, it is in flower in December. We planted these bulbs when we moved in 12 years ago and they are supposed to be an early flowering variety with the bloom meant to show in January/February. It's not the first time they have flowered for Christmas but it does only happen when it has been very mild.

Not all the daffodils have been so lucky. After a hard frost the daffodils can look as if they taken a bit of beating but they usually all perk up. For this one I think it is a case go down, staying down.

Of course it's not all about the plants and flowers in the garden. Before we went away I filled up the fatball feeder for birds and upon my return I witnessed the last of the crumbs being snaffled by a hungry sparrow. Earlier in the year the birds didn't seem bothered about the fatballs – it was all about the seed. Now they are not interested in the seed at all. At this time of year it's really important for birds to eat high energy foods so fatballs are the perfect choice. Always make sure there is food out for the birds first thing in the morning as this is when their energy reserves are at their lowest. Flying is one of the biggest uses of energy for birds so the last thing they need is to be flying around on the search for some breakfast.

Have you had snow in your garden? How is it looking at this time of year?

Joining the gardening love with Annie at Mammasaurus and How Does Your Garden Grow?