Winter

Winter has come... harsh frosts have shattered Carol's tulip pots, and her brick paths are ruined. Carol takes shelter in the potting shed and prepares her garlic for spring planting. On finer days, she begins pruning late-flowering clematis, and when the thaw comes she begins a major re-vamp in the borders. As the long dark days pass, the first green shoots of the new year appear. First it is snowdrops in ones and twos, and then in drifts, carpeting the woodland floor. These are then followed by jewel-like hellebores. As winter slides into February, and whilst the trees and shrubs are still in their dormancy, a local woodsman arrives to lay Carol's native hedge.