It's been glorious here too and I've spent a few hours tidying and
trimming over the past few days. With such a mild winter of no air
frosts here, I half expected a nasty parting gift by way of sharp
frosts. Luckily it has all passed without event and now there is a
mass of old growth that needs cutting out to make room for new. Last
week I was worried that one of the tree ferns might have become too
dry since although we've had rain, it has dried off very quickly here
and the soil gets dust dry even in mid winter. I've been out with the
hose several times and all is well. New croziers (emerging fronds)
are pushing up so quickly you can almost see them growing. Last
year's leaves came through totally undamaged so there'll be really big
masses of fronds this year.

A perennial 'morning glory'; Ipomoea indica has retained most of its
top growth this year and there are stems rooting and shooting wherever
they hit soil. I've had to be quite brutal and cut about 20 or so
feet of growth away, but there's still masses, which means it will
probably be even bigger this year. There's a large hanging basket
nearby that was planted up with a species Pelargonium - P. acetosum, 2
years ago. In theory the prolonged cold of last winter should have
seen it off, but it survived and gave a brilliant show last summer.
This year is going to be even better and I predict it will turn into
an enormous sphere of spidery, coral salmon flowers by June.

Another major pruning job was butchering a lilac-mauve flowered
Lagerstroemia (Crepe Myrtle) that Sacha and Ray brought back from a
trip to France several years ago. I struggled to get this to flower
for ages, but hit on the secret last year. Seriously hard pruning!
All branches are cut back to within inches of their bases and the
resultant growth is explosive. They flower on current season's wood
anyway so the more of that, the more they flower. Very much a case of
off with the old!

There's an 'orchid vine' - Bauhinia yunnanense that I grew from seed
about 7 years ago. It is one of the few semi-tender plants that I've
never quite had the courage to rip out even though it was a miserable
thing for a very long time. In 2005 it flowered for the first time
and they were such squinny, distorted efforts in an immediately
forgettable shade of off-pink that I hoped the cold of 2005-06 would
put it out of its misery. After a late start it took off like the
blazes last year and grew more in 3 months than it did in the previous
5 years. First flowers were again disappointing, but then it sorted
itself out and gave a very good late show. It has held on to its
leaves this winter and is already making strong growth. It might yet
turn out to be worth keeping.

I pulled out some chunks of herb-robert that were growing in a big
container of Crinum moorei and discovered that the Crinum's old seed
pods had fallen and started to germinate. The Crinum is quite strange
in the way that it grows. Each seed sends out a long root-like growth
from the seed which buries itself into the soil. The tip then swells
to form a bulblet, which sends out the leaf from the top and roots at
the base. While all this is going on, it draws nourishment 'down the
line' from the seed. A lot of palms do much the same thing, but I've
never noticed it quite so dramatically in other plants before.

Remaining on the bulb theme, a while ago I realised that I hadn't seen
my small clump of Veltheimia bracteata for quite some time. Today I
discovered its soft pink pokers peeking out between clumps of
Pelargonium 'Captain Starlight' near the house. Originally it used to
flower in mid winter and quite often rains or light frost would ruin
the display. In a year when almost everything else is very early, it
is very, very late. I'm not complaining. Nearby, big clumps of
Clivias are just starting to open so there'll be a glorious clash of
soft pink and vibrant orange red.

There are still plenty of juicy limequats (a hybrid between Mexican
lime and kumquat) ripening well. They are marvellous alternatives to
limes or lemons, but look so highly ornamental on the bush that I only
pick those lower down that are partly hidden. As an evergreen shrub
for mild areas, I rate this neat little citrus very highly. In summer
it is a mass of fragrant, waxy white flowers which yield pullet's egg
sized fruits that are ready for picking in just a few months. What
else in the foody line? Ah yes, a rather nice pomegranate is in bud
and should be in flower within a month or so. Maybe this year I'll be
picking those as well. If not, its vivid, crinkly petalled flowers
and translucent amber autumn leaf colour is already enough.

None of my flowering 'gingers' (Hedychiums) have lost any growth this
winter and most are still carrying seed heads from last years
flowers. Normally, the glistening ruby red berries set in intense
orange seed pods are quickly plundered by hungry birds, but this year
they have remained all winter. They'll have to come off soon now that
the new growths are well under way. I suspect there would be a few
interesting seedlings from them since they are intermingling clumps of
Hedychium gardnerianum (yellow), H. 'Tara' (brilliant orange-red) and
H. 'Corelli' (white and lemon). Unfortunately there isn't the time or
space to grow them all on so they'll have to go.

Unremarkably the banana clumps came through the winter unfazed and
most are still in leaf, although they took quite a battering from
winter storms. Both Musa sikkimensis and basjoo flowered several
times over the summer and there are now young fruits which appear to
have survived winter well. If they have and if the masses of wasps
that crowded over them did their job, any seeds are likely to be
hybrids between the two species. It's still a bit early to see
whether viable seed has been set, but I have to say it does look a bit
odd having bunches of small bananas hanging about at this time of
year.

Finally, I must mention Hardenbergia violacea yet again. This
glorious purple-flowered Australian climber opened its first flowers
in late November last year. It is still looking good and dripping
with tight drooping spikes of neat little pea-like flowers. I can't
think why I ignored it for so many years, but thank goodness I've seen
sense. In summer the leaves are like slender, sage green tongues
lapping the breeze as they hang from the stems. Even though there are
no flowers then, the give the plant presence. In winter it is
smothered with flower and on a dull, dark miserable day they provide a
much needed splash of quite a rare colour for that time of year.