White Rabbits

From being small,on the evening of the last day of February, just before going off to bed, my aunt used to  remind me that the following morning,1st March,  I was to walk downstairs backwards repeating 'white rabbits'. I never asked why and now I'll never know. It was only as I altered the kitchen calendar this morning that I realised that once again I'd forgotten to do it.

February has been a difficult month -

One day - a sunny yet frosty morning

The next - the garden smothered in snow

Even so, while we were huddled together trying to keep warm indoors, miracles were taking place underground.

The winter pansies shook off the snow and greeted Kathrine Hodgkin, a delightful form of iris reticulata.

If gardening doesn't teach us anything else it should teach us faith in a future - as a sign of hope the elegant snowdrop is hard to beat.