December has not started on the right foot. Stormy showers and sodden ground on clay soil is the worst possible weather to do any gardening in. Instead, I am studying seed catalogues and surrounding myself with tropical indoor plants to obliterate the view out of the window.
I have treated my Bird of Paradise plant, Strelitzia reginae, far too well since I took this photo, with the result that the leaves are twice the size and there are no flowers at all. However, the glossy leaves overhang my computer and in the depths of winter I can feel that I am in the midst of a tropical rainforest. Who needs summer!