I’ve finally realised that in a garden of this size there is no room for passengers. (It’s only taken me 10 years!) As a result I now expect my plants to look after themselves to some extent and not expect the mollycoddling they might have enjoyed in the past.

A case in point is the fuchsias. Some of the ones we have planted out are hardy, so they’re not a problem, but others are not fully hardy. Some are in pots, others planted in the ground.

Previous winters I’ve brought the pots into the conservatory, and covered the others with layers of dried grass. This year, or perhaps I should say at the end of last year, I made a decision to leave one potted fuchsia outside to fend for itself, and also to leave 3 of the planted fuchsias without protection to see how they would fare.

All 4 plants are in fairly sheltered positions, particularly the one in the pot. I’ve checked on them in the last few weeks but held out little hope of them surviving, as there were no signs of life.

Imagine my delight today when I noticed the one in the pot by the back door was producing tiny green shoots. I went to check on the other 3, and they are too, and this after one of the coldest, frostiest winters we’ve had in a while. Result!