The best that can be said about mid-winter, as far as the weather is concerned, is that the days are beginning to lengthen, so that there is at least more light, even if the temperature is low. Light is more important to green plants than warmth; without light they cannot live at all, but they will survive or grow slowly in relatively cold conditions, provided light is available. Hence the flowering of snowdrops, Iris reticulata, bergenias and some other tough herbaceous plants which have adapted to cold.

Hard frost, heavy rain and snow are all likely through mid-winter and you should not expect to be able to do much gardening, beyond small routine jobs in the greenhouse. Occasionally lawns can have a little work done on them; lime can be spread if needed, digging can be finished and occasional tidying is possible, on sunny, frosty days, of the results of winter gales.

Otherwise you can spend your time in the greenhouse or in an armchair planning your next growing season, with the seductive help of the new seed catalogues. It is a good time to take stock of your flowering display all round, including perennials, bulbs, annuals, bedding plants and rock plants. With experience you can arrange a continual show of flowers from early spring until winter; even in winter there are a few plants which will flower. Really, there is no end to the flowering season, merely a diminution at certain times.

Your efforts last summer in starting various plants from seed in containers will begin to show from now until early spring and you should have quite a lot of colour as well as fragrance in the greenhouse from flowering pot plants. A gently heated greenhouse in mid-winter is a great morale booster, as it can be the source of so much colour and the promise of spring for remarkably little expense, if you use paraffin heaters.