{baby it's cold outside}

Winter is officially here. However, if you ask me I think it arrived a little early this year. Apart from the difficulty of getting out of a warm, cosy bed in the morning I've come to quite enjoy winter and embrace the change of seasons in my garden.

Winter in Sydney is actually quite pleasant and is over before you know it. Although I wouldn't swap a Sydney winter for quids, I do miss the misty, foggy mornings of a Melbourne winter (the photos were taken on one of my early morning walks a few years back). There was always a special, almost eery, quietness about these winter mornings in Melbourne! I love the skeletal trees in all their nakedness - to me their true form is a thing of elegant beauty.

Much like me in the morning, my garden is looking a little sleepy at the moment. The last of the autumn leaves are hanging by a thread and the summer/autumn flowering perennials have well and truly closed up shop and taken their annual vacation. I am excited though by the tiny heads of my bulbs starting to burst through the cold soil - it reminds me that warmer weather is just around the corner and my garden will once again be a burst of colour.

Whilst it's not nearly as busy in the garden compared to the summer months there is still plenty to do. Deciduous trees will benefit from a haircut; mulch can be topped up to preserve that precious moisture in the soil for the onset of warmer weather; bare-rooted fruit and ornamental trees do well if planted now; and you can always tend to your tools in your potting shed to get out of the weather. I'm planning on doing a bit of garden construction while it's cool - I don't like working in the heat and would rather use this time to get such jobs done so I can focus all my efforts on my plants when the weather turns warmer. Besides, the physical exercise works off all those cups of hot chocolate, glasses of red wine and hearty, comfort food!!