蜜芽传媒

It鈥檚 difficult to get your gardening mojo going when the weather is as cold and as challenging as it has been of late, isn鈥檛 it?

But even when snow lies thick and icy winds blow those 鈥済reen shoots of recovery鈥� are always there shouting 鈥渢omorrow鈥�

We paid a welcome visit to Barbara Pilcher鈥檚 magical garden at Lisdoonan during the week and even though a thick blanket of snow lay over just about everything, we didn鈥檛 have to go too far to find slender green shoots sprouting happily, their fresh new green-ness in complete contrast to the big slabs of silvery white snow outside the windows of the greenhouse.

We made our way down through the garden along narrow little pathways, which Barbara鈥檚 husband Jonathan had scooped out and as we went Barbara pointed out some likely victims like Rosemary and Lavender. But while the physical weight of the snow had damaged some plants, especially the shrubs, others were expected to bounce back and Barbara, philosophical as ever, was making mental plans for what to prune and how, to help the garden to recover from its early spring shock.

As we crossed over the driveway into the potager, we passed through the beech hedge which was snow-laden, but looking fine and we marvelled at how well the clipped box looked, standing sentry-like at the door of the greenhouse, all bright green foliage and quirky shapes.

Inside thriving in the warmth, provided solely by the heat of sun on the glass, spinach, beans, coriander and other assorted herbs and vegetables were sprouting away awaiting warmer weather.

Talking of which, you might like to see a picture taken in Barbara and Jonathan鈥檚 garden of a more traditional springtime scene of dancing daffodils and you can hear Barbara talking about the varieties in question this week on the programme.

It is of course Easter and we called in to see Anne Fitzsimons from The Uncommon Garden as well this week. Our mission, to ask Anne to talk to us about plants with ancient, symbolic connections to Eastertide, and among the plants Anne chose to talk about were The Passionflower, The Lenten Rose and The Pulsatilla or Pasque Flower. You can hear their stories on this week鈥檚 programme.

We popped in to see Averil Milliken at Rowallane too, where tree surgeons and gardeners were busy doing their best to assess the damage caused to the gardens by the wind and the snow.

While they were working away we distracted ourselves by talking about cheery ideas for creating a springtime planter.

Jim Bradley made his way down from a snow-free Maghera and brought with him some more pretty daffodils so the studio became temporarily, a mini garden and you can see some pictures of the daffs which Jim brought on the Radio Ulster Facebook site.

All in all it鈥檚 been a busy week and I must say I鈥檓 looking forward to having a few days off so till next time from all of us on the Gardeners Corner team, good gardening and of course, a very happy Easter.