Work for the week

Topsy-turvy weather continues to baffle and torment the gardener, particularly recent heavy frosts which have ruined much in the line of blossoming fruit and ornamentals.

Pieris (flame of the forest) in particular have taken a battering, and plants that had a wonderful display of vivid red growths have been blackened overnight.

Frost, I keep reminding myself, burns with the intensity of lightening, yet it moves about in the darkness like a meandering stream pooling at times to form vast lakes which can chill down into the subsoil. At other times, its shallow tendrils reach out to strike in one area to leave an adjoining garden unscathed. Even within the same garden, some plants are affected by frost while others are passed by.