Colour in January and the very first Snowdrop

It has been quite a dull January weather wise. After the spectacular, and I must admit very magical snow we had in December,  it has been just...dull. I have seen some lovely colourful posts by my other blogger friends over the past few weeks friends so I thought a little more colour here would  be perfect for this post.

Last week I visited my favourite garden centre in Kent when I went over to see my parents.

It was lovely to see so much colour on such a dreary day. I spied lots of boxes of violas. I always enjoy growing violas. There are so many colour varieties and they are such plucky little plants which seem to survive through the coldest winters. They actually seem so much more hardy that the so called "winter flowering pansies"- many tend to give up the ghost in really cold weather.

There were also striking varieties of primroses.

There had been a new delivery of my favourite pots.

These terracotta pots, made by Willow Pottery, have the advantage of being frost proof. They bring out new designs on a regular basis and we loved the new cat design of the pot in the middle. My parents bought me a Willow Pottery pot for Christmas with a sweet hedgehog on the rim. I am so looking forward to filling it with some plants when the weather improves.

It was also so cheering to see tubs planted up with my very favourite flower...the dearest daffodil. I particularly like this miniature "tete a tete" variety and have a small pot indoors myself.
But what cheered me up the most that day was when we returned to my parents' home my Mum mentioned that she had found her first Snowdrop in flower in their garden. They are very late this year, my Mum has had Snowdrops in flower before Christmas some years.  I had to go out to photograph it, here it is...

So despite our harshest winter for many years and the Snowdrops very late arrival this year, the first bulbs are even in bloom out in the garden. I have never had much success growing Snowdrops, but when I returned home I had a look outside in my raised bed. I was delighted to find  that my bulbs, although not yet in flower, are coming along nicely! There are green tips beginning to emerge from the very cold soil.

Now I don't need to add who also felt he had to check this out, do I?.............

He does not like to miss out on anything!

Thank you Billy! It appears there are more signs of spring approaching and even the days are getting very slightly lighter now..what bliss.

Remember it's the last few days to enter my giveaway here. There is some colour to win, so don't miss out!

Bye for now,

Jane x