My first snowdrop!

In two days time we will have been in this house for a whole year, whoppee. I've stopped rushing the garden as it's looking fairly respectable now but it really is the worst time of year for this garden. With so much snow and such low temperatures for this area (minus 11.5 degrees on Boxing day, minus 4.5 degrees at the start of this week) a lot of our plants have suffered. Apart from the new growth on my lilac and two new shoots on a clematis there isn't much else going on in the garden. Not on the surface that is. On closer inspection there are masses of tulips poking their green tips boldly through the compost in our pots but in the ground itself we are still awaiting the carpet of spring bulbs. When I tidied up the borders today I was delighted to find a solitary snowdrop - the first one up from all the bulbs I planted in the Autumn. It's so rewarding when the fruits of your labour show their face. It's like a present.