Signs of Spring

After being caught out by a cold snap every year I have finially learnt not to sew seed or plant when the weather first warms up in August.

Spring started arriving in Auckland before winter did, in other words we had a warm but very wet winter. My paperwhites started flowering in May and one of my old fashioned roses (Cornellia) never stopped flowering. It produced clusters one or two at a time all winter. If the themometor dropped below 10 it wasn't that noticable. I was suprised the fruit trees didn't start flowering. Just as well.

In early August things started warming up as per usual - and then we got that storm. The one that had a little slushy sleet falling on gobsmacked Aucklanders in the central city and children in Pukekohe, Bombay and Hunua trying to make snow balls.

It doesn't snow in Auckland - this was the first think that looked like snow rather than hail since 1974 when a tiny amount of sleet fell on the summit of Mt Eden.

Two frosts made it down the drive to ice up the windscreen of the van but not enough to freeze on our seltered lawn.

The weeds promptly started growing after the storm and a week later things are really gearing up and oh boy do I have some weeding and pruning to do.

With the weather being so wet and warm over winter the roses never really went dormant.