It was a bright mild afternoon here in Forncett St.Mary, Norfolk, so I went into the garden and took some pictures. Flowers shown include aubretia, erysimum, geum, hellebores and aconite.

click on picture for slide show -  photos by John Metcalf

The first week in March and we had a tantilising glimpse of spring and boy was it so, for winter had.not yet gone. Just a week later it is back with bitterly cold winds and more snow. So here are a few pictures just to show we are undaunted by this fickle spring - but please don't bother to send us any more rain for a while.

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What an astonishing contrast this winter has been to the previous year.

Last year we had snow from November onwards but this year none. We have had very few frosts to date - January 15th, but at last a reasonable amount of rain.

Many bulbs are showing some very early buds and lots of other plants showing some flowers and have not yet gone fully dormant.

(click thumbnails to enlarge)

Photographs by Pauline Roberts

These pictures show the dramatic changes in foliage colours from summer to autumn in the Acer palmatum group.

I have also included a picture of A. p. 'Autumn Glory' which shows the range of colours possible all at the same time.

photographs by Len Speller
(click pic for slideshow)

Spring is making slow progress but there are a few flowers to be seen, happily lots of green shots appearing through the ground.

A seedling Helleborus foetidus has just appeared in the garden. at Forncett St.Mary, displaying a large red edge inside the flower and a less broad one on the outside, but still more than in the form.

There are several other seedling showing the same characteristics - February 2011

As the weather has been more agreable lately, I wandered round the garden and took a few pictures. I was surprised by how many plants are starting to show some activity.

Many are looking as if they enjoyed the cold spell and are very fresh in the dull light,which was livened by the occasional burst of sunshine.