I was a delighted to spot the first flowering snowdrop in my garden last week but this strange weather is fooling many other plants too. I have Gaura which is just about in flower as is Cerinthe major atropurpureus and Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’, Penstemon ‘Heavenly Blue’, Pensetmon ‘Garnet’ and Alchemilla mollis. I have roses determinedly flowering, Antirrhinum ‘Royal Bride’ and Papaver orientale ‘Perry’s White’ poised with fat buds, Erigeron karvinskianus and Valeriana rubra are tentatively offering some flowers whilst Hebe ‘Autumn Beauty’ and Phlomis fruticosa are flowering unrestrainedly accompanied by Borago pygmaea and Brunnera macrophylla.
Back to what one might expect on this cold windswept Somerset hill, I am enjoying flowering primroses, Pulmonaria, , Daphne ‘Jacqueline Postill’, Helleborus foetidus, budding Helleborus orientalis, violets, Jasminum nudiflorum, Lonicera fragrantissima, Sarcococca, Begenia and Crocus. A total of 25 different flowers in January!