Taken from the Kitchen Witch Newsletter January 2023
The mild weather disappeared and winter firmly took hold in December. Temperatures plummeted and gave what remaining plants that were in bloom, a bit of a shock! Mother Nature decided to blanket everywhere in a sparkly white frost - and in some parts of the UK - snow!
The deciduous trees are completely bare - maybe the odd brown withered leaf is clinging on but the chilly winds pluck them off their branches easily and they float down to join the others; damp and decayed on the ground.
We have had the Winter Solstice and we know that from now, the daylight hours will slowly start to increase. There are tiny signs that the earth is stirring - Narcissus shoots are poking through the earth in my garden, along with a lone Hyacinth. It may be a few weeks before either of them flower, but it is the faint glimmer that spring is around the corner...