It's happening. New growth is starting to poke through. These Spring Snowflakes (Leuojcum vernum) I planted a few years ago seem to like this spot, probably because it corresponds to their natural habitat of damp scrub. They're slowly increasing- I must purchase some more in the autumn. Simple rule of thumb: if a particular plant does well in a certain area plant some more. 

 Not a common bulb but a few specialist growers have them. These came from Shipton Bulbs whose catalogue notes that they are found in many parts of Europe but are native to Britain in Dorset and Somerset only.  

 I don't think I've mentioned Bergenia cordifolia in these pages before. Sometimes called Elephant's Ears it's grown as much for its evergreen foliage as for flowers. In the summer months the showy blooms are raised on stems above the greenery. 'Purpurea' and 'Bressingham White' are the most common cultivars. 

 The species hails from Siberia and has the virtue of being as tough as old boots growing in sun or shade, tolerating most soils. Often recommended as a ground cover plant though it spreads slowly.

 Very lovely growing in the Altai mountains judging by photos I have seen but one of those plants that generally gets used in a rather functional sort of way here in the UK.

 Saw these Stinking Hellebores (Hellebore foetidus) in a hedgerow today- first wildflower sighting of the year! The Stinking Hellebore is reliably one of the earliest natives to appear. The flowers will open within a day or two by the look of it. 

 Sunlight raking across the allotment after a night of hard frost. These sub-zero temperatures are something of a relief actually. Britain had the warmest temperatures on record at the turning of the year.

 The berries of Ivy (Hedera helix), poisonous to humans but loved by birds. 

 

 The Panther Meadows walk-in campground didn't have any campers when I passed by in June 2016. The upper reaches of Mount Shasta in northern California were still thick with snow. I had pitched my tent in the woods about a mile down the mountain where the snow had mostly melted.

 Readers of this diary will know I keep an eye on weather conditions in California, particularly the areas where I have hiked in recent years. Needless to say that kind of travel has been impossible during the pandemic but I can wander in my mind's eye.

 Mostly I have had to report drought and wildfires so I was interested to see how things are shaping up this winter. On December 1st. the California snowpack was at 18% of the average, a historic low. By the end of the month it had reached 160% with more to come. The Lake Tahoe area for example has had massive dumps of snow after a summer of wildfires unprecedented in living memory.

 California depends on snow melt for a good deal of its tap water so this should go some way to replenishing its depleted reservoirs. In theory water after fire is a good thing but torrents of water rushing across 'burn scars' creates other problems like mud slides. Heavy snow is part of California's alpine ecology but the extreme volatility in weather systems does seem to be a global characteristic of climate change.

 

 NB I wrote a recollection of my visit to Shasta in an entry to this diary 21st. June 2017. 

 A right old tangle. Accumulating a substantial pile of pruning from the Fig trees. I'll shred the slimmer branches which will generate plenty of woodchip to use as mulch. The council lays on green waste bins along with the rubbish and the recycling but why waste it?

 And so 2022 begins... The stars and the spheres keep their own time and that is nature's calendar but today is January 1st. by the Gregorian calendar so Happy New Year!