I had admired these beautiful double daffodils growing wild in the verges of the field behind us for years. A few years ago, when it was clear that they were about to be exterminated by some overzealous field tidying by the farmer, I frankly admit that Andy and I organised a raiding party to rescue them. Of course, that scuppered them completely for that year, and they have taken their time to settle in. They are not the tallest, a bit on the stumpy side, but with big fat buds opening into disorganised, but fulsome, somehow almost homemade, bright yellow frilly doubles. Some years, they come and go very fast, seeming to bloom and fade in a couple of days, but maybe this year, we might see them for a bit longer as the overall temperatures are on the cold side for the next couple of weeks. I took this photograph on the Ipad in a rush two years ago.
Lonicera fragrantissima is a twiggy, scrabbly thing, and it takes quite a few years to look any better. But, now about nine years old, it happily sits in a hot, dry spot. It’s main period of interest is winter and early spring, the rest of the time it simply makes a rounded, twiggy bush with soft green leaves, making a gentle accent in our stony soil. In the winter and spring though, the very small flowers can fill the air with perfume on a sunny day. Sunny days have not been plentiful this winter, but actually, from the photography point of view, a dull day is the best for pale and white-flowered plants. So, no perfume, but a better photograph.
The dampness has been wonderful for the moss on our old walls in the garden. It is so green it is almost golden.
But, in the house by the back door, Abutilon ‘Red Trumpet’ has flowered, and oddly, even has a small greenfly family in residence. I shan’t bother about the greenfly as the plant is in good condition, just waiting for frost-free nights before I put it out. It will make a graceful, arching shrub to 1.5m all round within this year, but I will keep it in a pot so that I can overwinter easily. The red is a black, rich, juicy red, absolutely stunning. It reminds me not to be too demoralised by the weather. The sun will return.
jardinecofriendly 
Lonicera fragrantissima is one that I have never even seen, or if I did happen to see it in Oregon, I did not know what it was. Besides our native honeysuckle, we have only Japanese honeysuckle here, and occasionally Burmese honeysuckle. The Japanese honeysuckle happens to be one of my favorite fragrant flowers, which is why I find the other honeysuckles to be so interesting. I just found a red honeysuckle at work, so I am curious to see what it does this year.
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