Sol ute, sol inne...

We've had sunshine for a few days now and I've even started bringing out the garden furniture bit by bit. My husband was horrified when I tried to serve lunch on the terrace the other day, he thought it was FAR to early - but if you wear thermals like me it's lovely to sit out in the sun. You would if you were in the Alps, wouldn't you? So why not make the most of it at home?

The lovely thing about winter in England is that there are so many evergreen trees, bushes and even flowers in the garden. We planted Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' on the terrace a year ago, and they have been the best performers I could have wished for. They quickly grew into nice rounded bushy fellows, and when Monty Don pulled his up on Gardener's World because he thought they had run their course ours were still going strong. They have flowered continuously, albeit at a minimum in mid-winter, and are now almost going full throttle again. It is such a joy to sit on the terrace surrounded by these purple flowers in early March. And by the way, I refuse to call them 'Wallflowers', which just reminds me of poor unattractive spinsters in a Jane Austen novel. Our Erysimums are the girls that never stop dancing...

And I must mention my lovely miniature Cyclamen by the front door, so pretty and flowering throughout the coldest months of winter. What a trouper.