The shady triangle has been brightened up by two beautiful ceramic planters, set at the bottom of the garden by the station building wall. The pots have been donated and planted up by local horticulturalists, Bridgette and Deborah, from The Garden House in nearby Warleigh Road, where they run a wonderful array of gardening and craft courses, and a pop-up shop on a Friday afternoon for plants, crafts, books, tea and cake.

Both pots have a central feature – Phormium ‘Apricot Queen’ in one, Luma apiculata ‘Glanleam Gold’ in the other – underplanted with Bellis perennis and Narcissus ‘Tete a tete’. Bridgette and Deborah plan to change the display each season, and we hope to link in some of our annual planting in the shady triangle to the planting in the pots.

We’re still establishing the structure of the shady triangle, but our key shrubs – the fatsia japonica and the mahonia – are doing well and the bulbs we planted in the autumn are coming through. The doughty fuchsias, though, succumbed to the very cold weather we had here at the beginning of February. I’m impatient now to see some colour in the garden; February feels such a long month as we wait for spring. The yellows and deep pinks of the new pots are just the inspiration we need. Thank you, Bridgette and Deborah!