Beautiful Winter Weather

It is wonderful winter weather here. Yesterday I pruned all the Hybrid Tea (and a few Tea) roses, and the ground was quite wet underfoot then. Since then it has rained steadily overnight - there was 29.5 ml (118 pts) in the gauge this morning, and there has been heaps more since.

I am enjoying watching the rain on the radar. I have discovered what the loop link is above the map - it lets you see things actually move!!!

There's not a lot of colour in the garden - I didn't get any winter annuals in, but the perennial snapdragon (which I think is going to flower 364 days of the year), is looking wonderful.

This is how it looked a couple of months ago - not as many flowers now, but definitely still has a presence.

But I do have to admit that the first daffodil is really only just a bud - but a big, fat one that will come out any day now.

I think it is a King Alfred - strange, as I thought my very old double daffodils were always the first to flower. I got them years ago from an abandoned mining settlement out in the bush (although I made sure I only took a couple and left most of them there). They are quite ugly things, but I like them as they are so old. Pictures to come - once they come out in flower.

Right now I am wandering around trying to reduce the number of clumps of old-fashioned cream Jonquils (others might know them as Narcissus) - otherwise they are going to take over the whole garden.

The worms, of course, are loving all the wet soil.

And, in one of the nearby towns, the elms have all broken out with their new leaves. I think spring is on its way.