Cotoneaster

A bright sunny day, 5 deg C when I fed the hens this morning, but I don't care if it's cold, so long as it's dry and preferably not too windy!  Lovely to have another good day for gardening.  While I was working in the shop yesterday Mike had been busy forking the compost from one bin to the next.  Heavy work, and Lottie wasn't a lot of use!   

At John's I've cut back a lot of geraniums and discovered lots of bulbs starting to come up underneath them, all pale and leggy as they struggle through the slimy, black, dead foliage.  Heartening to see new life appearing at this time of year.  

I can't bring myself to cut down our sweet peas, although the whole wigwam of them has collapsed.  There are still a few flowers and buds, and they still have a lovely scent when you bring them indoors.  Also there is the odd cistus in flower - see extra.  Incredible plants - I've never seen them in Orkney, but we saw them in Portugal and I thought I'd try one.  Highly recommended - this is its second year and it's doing amazingly well!