Winter colour

In autumn, Susan planted up pots for putting in old milk churns in the yard.  The winter pansies are now in looking well, having survived last week's severe frosts when the flowers were bent over and looking miserable. They can be recommended to provide some colour during the winter months. 

The mild weather today allowed for many hours of apple tree pruning; I got four of the eight finished.  They are mainly old trees which had been growing very tall, so over the years I have encouraged the growth of lower down branches.  Cutting off the upper branches to allow plenty of light to penetrate down low, has encouraged new shoots to appear from even the largest of low branches.  I started this process many years ago as I knew that some day it would be unwise for me to climb the trees or ladders to carry out pruning and fruit picking.  That day has arrived!