Sacha wrote:

Childishly, I'm really hoping the heavens open, though right now it's very
clear and cold. *I've asked everyone to keep clear of the big lawn so that I
can go down one of the side paths to the very bottom of the garden and come
up to it that way, leaving a pristine surface. *That said, we probably won't
get one more flake! *;-)

There was just a light dusting overnight here and when the winds
changed to the South West during the morning, all the snow
disappeared. Considering I normally loathe cold weather and have
never been pleased to see snow, I felt strangely cheated! North and
mid Devon were clobbered as well as parts of Cornwall, but a thin
sliver of the south coast escaped, which is either good or bad
depending upon your point of view. Overnight rain and a min of 4C
means that Wednesday is dawning a typical late winter's day for us.

Any losses in your garden, David, or has everything come through intact?

To be honest I've not looked much to see if there's been any damage
this winter. It won't make any difference now, so there's no point in
me worrying about losses. The only thing I can make out is that the
utterly obnoxious Senecio mikanioides, which is worse than any
bindweed imaginable, appears to have taken a very hard knock and that
is a very welcome consequence of the cold. Fingers crossed that all
local outbreaks of this have been killed or at least severely
damaged. To think this was a popular pot-plant at one stage!

I don't believe in giving additional protection and it will be
interesting to see just how much comes through. In terms of absolute
temperatures, it's not been that cold here with -3C being the worst.
However, the duration of cold is often more damaging than a sub-zero
plunge and during the last cold spate we had day after day of
temperatures not moving out of the -1C to 2C band - and that could
have finished some of the more tender plants off. Taking the glass
half-full approach, I look upon this as an opportunity to try
something different - including that white form of Hardenbergia
violacea!

Those Acacias at the front of the house whose name I always forget, is
looking very, very sad

The big Acacia on the coast road between Torquay and Paignton has come
through well and the flower buds are just breaking. The various
Acacia baileyanas around town have been in flower for a while so this
cold winter has done little to delay flowering, With daffs well
advanced and Crocus showing their buds, we only need a few mild days
for the spring show to start.