Still Alive

Three weeks ago I went to the garden centre to find a new Dicentra as it seemed as though mine had died. A kind assistant told me that these plants were four weeks behind at the nursery and had yet to break the surface of the soil, and should come back in a few weeks time. A week ago mine at last appeared and is sprouting better than ever. It looks quite tropical at the moment and is one of the main spring flowering perennials.

In the winds of last autumn, the Clematis Montana came down, bringing most of the trellis with it. It was a massive job to cut down all the branches and slice up the old wooden trellis. I was left with a short stubby bit of dead wood. It looked like the end, and for a long time there was no sign of life. Then again last week, and thanks to the mild weather, a few shoots appeared. So it was alive after all. I now need to put up some proper support, some strands of wire between some screws anchored in the brickwork should do the trick.