Saturday 14th February 2026 - More Than Doubled, Pruning and Farewell Cleo

According to a report on the TV, we’ve had just five hours of sunshine this year.  Today, this number should be more than doubled – it’s been glorious from sunrise to sunset.  It’s pretty cold in the shade but this has to be a small price to pay after day upon day of grey and as an extra bonus, no rain today.

With the bottom of the garden in full sun, I pruned our apple tree.  I used the loppers to reduce the height and other branches were trimmed back, using secateurs, to a fruiting bud.  It was toasty in the greenhouse providing an opportunity to lift the fleece off the plants for a few hours and trim back the osteospermums and a couple of marguerites.  They were all looking a bit straggly and with fresh shoots showing at the base, this seemed like they would benefit from a trim.  Only time will tell if this was the right thing to do.

The warmth, in our storm porch, resulted in Queen Wasp Cleo starting to move about.  With wings and legs unfurled she looked so much bigger than when she was hunkered down, looking as if she was dead.  I took her to the end of the garden where, under the trees, there is plenty of foliage against the wall and released her in a sunny spot.  I checked back on her a couple of times and on the third time, Cleo was gone.  I hope she will have a successful season, producing offspring that will help pollinate flowers and eat unwanted bugs.

Today’s photo was taken this morning as the sun was rising, lighting the skies of blue.