I got this heather (Erica carnea 'Eva') to add a bit of colour near the house at this time of year. You can see the crocus towering above it in the background. I'm sure it will grow. [Update] Turns out that it may only grow to 6 inches tall - so not much bigger!

The average temperature was 5.7C with a minimum of -3.1C and maximum of 12.5C. Last year the average was 4.1C (min -6.4C, max 12.7C), so it was warmer than last year. There was 46mm of rain, whereas last year there was 77mm, so drier too.

There were only 2 days when the temperature dropped below zero. Last year there were 9 frosty days.

You can compare with last year.

Last year I realised that there was not too much easily visible from the window during the early part of the year since I mostly had the spring plants around the edges and towards the back leaving the closest part of the garden looking very bare.

I've improved this a little for this year by planting some Winter Aconites and Snowdrops. The new snowdrops were not very successful so far and maybe I will have to accept that the

The The garden goes down to pretty much nothing although I leave all old growth as it is until things start growing again. By February though there is a pleasing variety of flowers and I've managed to

I just love these and how the flower is the first thing to apear out of the ground. One day there will be nothing then there is a touch of yellow.

I don't see many of these around, and indeed the first ones I got did not last. That was probably because they were where the birds tended to feed. Anyway they seem to be doing fine in the main part of the garden. These are near the house so can be easily seen from the window.

The average temperature was 4.7C with a minimum of -5.0C and maximum of 13.6C. Last year the average was 2.2C (min -5.6C, max 9.2C), so it was warmer than last year. There was 18mm of rain, much drier than last year when there was 149mm.

There were 10 days when the temperature dropped below zero. Last year there were 17 days.

The average temperature was 4.7C with a minimum of -1.6C and maximum of 13.6C. Last year the average was 4.3C (min -2.9C, max 12.0C), so it was about the same as last year. There was 88mm of rain, and last year there was 73mm.

There were 4 days when the temperature dropped below zero compared to 6 days last year.

The average temperature was 7.3C with a minimum of -2.2C and maximum of 14.9C. Last year the average was 7.8C (min -3.3C, max 15.4C), so it was cooler than last year. There was 46mm of rain, and last year there was just 19mm.

There were 3 days when the temperature dropped below zero. Last year there were also 3 days.

The average temperature was 10.7C with a minimum of 0.0C and maximum of 19.3C. Last year the average was 9.3C (min 2.2C, max 16.0C), so it was warmer than last year.

There was 89mm of rain, whereas last year there was 107mm.