DAY 278 (8 JANUARY 2020) Oleander (nerium oleander) (Vejer, Spain)

Recovered enough to get on a flight. Greeted by abundant (unknown) weeds keeping our oleander company.

DAY 277 (7 JANUARY 2020) Wisteria (wisteria sinensis) (Farnham)

All I can manage from my sick bed. Yellowing evening wisteria branches against our window.

DAY 276 (6 JANUARY 2020) Bengal rose (Rosa chinensis Jacq.) (Farnham)

Struck down by a fever today. So January weather didn’t tempt me out… Here’s the best bit left of a Christmas bouquet.

DAY 275 (5 JANUARY 2020) Roof moss (Farnham)

Watching Monty Don’s Japanese Gardens today reminded me that I always find bonsai plants interesting – though I’m never sure why. So I took a photo of these miniature moss clumps on our kitchen roof tiles. (Yes, we should do something about them!)

Note: when I say ‘I took a photo’, in fact my (much taller) husband actually took it as I couldn’t reach without a step ladder.

DAY 274 (4 JANUARY 2020) Bulrushes (Cyperus?) (Greater London)

Spotted these amazing bulrushes on a dusk walk today. As their seedpods explode, some look as though they have furry animals clinging to their stems. These would have made an extra-cosy Moses basket.

DAY 273 (3 JANUARY 2020) Unknown tree (Farnham)

I didn’t manage to identify this tree (dogwood perhaps??) But it was good to be reminded that nature carries on regardless in front of the large building site.

DAY 272 (2 JANUARY 2020) Viburnum (Laurustinus tinus) (Farnham)

I am constantly amazed that I can still find new things to photograph in our small garden. The closed buds on this viburnum remind me a bit of the hydrangea in spring. Just discovered, too, that it’s native to Mediterranean maquis areas (which always makes me think of Corsica). But this one seems very happy providing cover for our noseless sculpture.

DAY 271 (1 JANUARY 2020) Bamboo (see below) (Lodsworth, West Sussex)

I watched a documentary this evening about Madagascan lemurs that are endangered because of loss of their bamboo habitat. Thousands of miles away in rural West Sussex I was a bit surprised to see these ragged versions in abundance during a walk. There are so many kinds (and I don’t know which these are) but they have wonderful names like chimonobambusa and pseudosasa. Would have loved to see a lemur too…

DAY 270 (31 DECEMBER) Pansy (Viola tricolor) (Farnham)

This pansy’s an old scruff, planted in a council box overlooking the wintry river Wey. It looks how I might feel returning home in the early hours of 2020 – frayed but bright with hope.

DAY 269 (30 DECEMBER) Moss (Bryophyta) (Farnham)

Take a branch or twig. Introduce the cold, to kill its pretty things. Bring on the nights. Call in the damp so that its stubs and dead fingers can only weep downwards into the mulch. Block hope. Then walk away, and give it days of its own. Look how, when it’s ready, it doesn’t mind you or me. Look how it makes a mockery of No. Look how it makes a new city of miniature green. (Copyright Jenny Rivarola)