A winter offering

If you are in to Instagram at all, you’ll find, of late, beautiful pictures with bright yellow daffodils and tulips telling us that spring is just around the corner. And I love all the pretty spring pictures, of course, but when you live a bit further north like I do, you realise spring is some way off yet and that outside it’s still winter. It is January after all. And when the snow disappears and everything seems a little bit drab, it’s hard to believe there’s any colour out there at all.

Admittedly, you might have to look a little closer, but it is there. I had a quick look around my garden the other day and within a few minutes I had gathered up hellebore, pansies, the glossy red leaves of photinia, silvery eucalyptus and leaves in multiple shades of green. I had picked up a few viburnum flowers from a walk along Belfast lough and together, it made for a colourful winter offering.

The viburnum, in particular, is so pretty with it’s delicate blossom in shades of creamy white and blush pink.

And, if you stop and look a little closer, you might spot that the flower I gathered is almost heart shaped …..

Perhaps that is what January is all about…a lesson in patience, learning to slow down, not wishing away the months until spring and stopping to appreciate what is here right now.

I hope I have brought a little winter colour to your January day. Do let me know if you have any favourite winter flowers and if you spot any viburnum when you are out and about.