This weekend I have seen the first bees foraging in the garden! In previous years I have spotted them from late Jan/early Feb taking advantage of the Snowdrops, Hellebores, Crocuses and Daffodils. It hasn't been especially cold this winter but it has been very, very wet which bees struggle with.
 Fortunately the Trachystemon orientalis is coming into flower and it's a bee magnet (as is the case with many plants of the Boraginacae family). The flowers look rather similar to the annual Borago officinalis hence it's sometimes called Oriental Borage.
 In his book 'Dream Plants for the Natural Garden' Piet Odulf places T. orientalis in the section titled "Troublesome invasive plants" but it doesn't trouble me. I planted it in a dry shady area where few plants would flourish and it's fine. The bees think so too...