With the long gap between Newsletters there is much to catch up on!!

We are pleased that all of our regular bird visitors to the yard are still alive and well.The male blackbird, ‘Daddio’, has reclaimed the territory next to the rich pickings of the mess room after the months of feeding his wife and children….and of course himself!!We are hoping that he will, once again, choose to nest in the yard (when spring finally comes) along with ‘Bobbin’, our resident robin who favours the shed as her nesting place.

Other bird visitors, including the Fieldfares and the Redwings have snaffled most of our berries and the trees are looking bare.But we are pleased to have had them here and are expecting the spring to bring us more colour soon.

We are also looking forward to the migration of the birds back into Britain.Look out for the Warblers, Swifts, Swallows and the House Martins.

As you will have noticed we have had quite a mixture of weather over the last few months!!With this has come a little…well maybe a lot, of devastation.We had the odd tree branch come down with the high winds of oct/nov and sadly a very large Elm that had been at home in the sensory garden for many years. The elm caused a great deal of damage to the pagoda, fencing, planting and walled area in the south end of the sensory garden and has left a rather large, sad looking gap!!The knock-on effect has been positive.The gap has allowed more sunshine to come into the garden which will allow a wider variety of plants and shrubs to be grown.We are also having the pagoda restored back to its former glory.Raised beds will hopefully be added to enhance the sensory garden, bringing a range of differing planting heights.

The snow has been and gone….and may well be back again!!We hope that everybody managed to enjoy the gardens in all of their snowy beauty.And we also thank everybody who disposed of their improvised sleds and toboggans suitably!!We can thank the snow for splitting our bulbs…we can’t wait to have all of the daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses come into bloom again!!Why not get your cameras out and photograph the crocus meadows?We ask you all very kindly to take good care of the flowering bulbs.They stay looking beautiful for sooo much longer when feet and paws remain at a suitable distance!!

You will see that we have been doing a heavy winter prune around the park.Please remember that we love our shrubs and trees and that we do the pruning with love and care.Pruning encourages new growth and keeps the plant to a manageable size.Unfortunately we have lost a Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum)

to the chain saw.It was no longer able to maintain its use as a climbing frame by our younger visitors.

We will be extending the Conservation Area this year; widening the fenced area, up the hill to the north side of the stream.We hope to encourage more of our feathered and furred friends and will have more native planting.

The St Ann's gardening team is usually 7 strong with two attendants starting towards the end of April.We all welcome your questions and comments and will be delighted to say hello to you all.We are easy to spot in our City Parks green uniform.

If we are not to be seen in the park we will be busy else where in Hove.We take care of many green spaces including Brunswick Square, Adelaide Crescent, Palmeira Square, Hove Museum, Hove lagoon….and lots of residential gardens from Wilbury to St Leonards!!We will always make it back to St Anns for a cup of tea on a daily basis, so please ‘look us up’!

A happy and prosperous year to all from Karen and the St Ann’s gardeners x