December has been very cold and wet as the storm season has arrived in force. We have had howling gales and heavy seas, and days on end of rain with the recent Storm Bella which came roaring across the Atlantic and hit us full on. There is much debris to clear but at least the water table will have been replenished. And we have now passed the winter solstice so the days will start to get longer and the sun a little higher. We did have one fine day and it showed how vibrant the plants can be even with all the salt-blasting and weather that mother nature can throw at them.

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It has been a truly awful year and we are now locked up for another month as the resurgent Virus rages still. All we can do is remember happier times and plan for renewal in 2021. When spring comes, the tiered garden going down to the house will be redeveloped with a mass of pinks and whites in Mexican fleabane- erigerons- and Japanese anemone to contrast with the blue agapanthuses. Dreaming is part of the joy of gardening at this time of year; the hard work will come in about 10 weeks, just before the arrival of spring.

For now, we are hunkering down for the new year tonight with board games, sweet wine and Tunnocks tea cakes and caramel bars, like last year and all the years previously.

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A toast: to life after the Virus, and dreams of the garden to come.