That’s what I thought – easy peasy! – as I set out to write this post but I was quickly brought to my senses. I had a thought of organising a selection of photographs from the past year, a type of retrospective, but when I arranged all of last year’s images into one folder I found there were 6,000 of them in over 200 folders – a folder for each day I took photographs – and I was immediately daunted by the thought of going through each individual folder in order to select the best.
This put me off for several days, on the long finger, until I returned to the task today, a day too miserable to allow gardening or even walking, and I came with a plan and with a determination that I would open the earliest folder of each month and pick any photograph which appealed to me at first sight, going to the second and third day if needed but stopping the search as soon as I had three photograph for each month. To my credit, and with some incredulity, I can report that I kept to my plan and that is how I have organised my retrospective collection here – three photographs for each month and you can click on them to see them in a large format, which will help you read the captions. I hope you enjoy them:
January 2021:



February 2021:



March 2021:



April 2021:



May 2021:



June 2021:



July 2021:



August 2021:



September 2021:



October 2021:



November 2021:



December 2021:



So, there you have my selection of images from the past year. As ever, I feel that I could have included some more, many more to be honest, but some control was essential and enough is enough – enough is as good as a feast, as the saying goes.
Best wishes for the coming gardening year. I long for the garden to dry out again as it is presently so very very wet, a quagmire, and any work there is out of the question. I walk around each day to see how the snowdrops are doing and they have been growing at a pace with the mild weather of recent weeks so I’ll leave you with three images from the beginning of 2022.



Thank you, Paddy and a very Happy New Year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns, Angela.
LikeLike
What a clever solution to your dilemma.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done. It’s nice to have a reminder of what there is to look forward to, even in the depths of winter. The Pheasant photo made me smile. I keep meaning to go through my images of flowers and delete all the near duplicates but I always put it off. All the best for the New Year.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh goodness, I’m sure there are loads and loads of duplicate. I notice it especially with the snowdrops – as soon as the first flower in a clump opens I am out with the camera to photograph it and then again as it looks better and better so it almost becomes a daily event. Too many!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Happy New Year Paddy. A lovely way to look back at the seasons in your beautiful garden. Thank you for sharing
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you and many happy returns.
LikeLike
You’ve surpassed yourself, Paddy…. a great way to look back and equally to get a flavour of the flowering seasons.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful photos.Roll on Spring. Happy New Year to you all. Hilary
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns, Hilary.
LikeLike
I thoroughly enjoyed your post, and I’m glad you included the pheasant; he is handsome indeed. We are in the same predicament as you are, in that our garden is also soggy again after yet more rain from ex-tropical cyclone Seth…..and he is still hovering near us! The snowdrops are really pretty! Wishing you and the Head Gardener all the very best for 2022.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns – and drier weather!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You made an excellent choice by presenting three pix per month. Your gardens, and your photos, are beautiful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am always tempted to put in more and more photographs but enough is enough.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for bringing a welcome flash of colour to this miserable January morning. Happy New Year, Paddy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A very good choice of photos for this review of 2021. Happy New ( gardening) Year !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the mix of close-ups and vistas over the garden. Fabulous photography! Happy New Year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns, Finola.
LikeLike
Lovely reminders of your garden. I also have far too many photos but I’m getting better at deleting them – no-one needs over 100 images of tomatoes in various stages of growth for just one year!!! I will be more choosy in 2022.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just bought more storage – bigger laptop hard-drive and big external drive!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Paddy for a wonderful cheerful post for a dull day.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Paddy, A great review in lovely pictures of 2021, and what you have to look forward to in 2022… once the rain stops! I know gardeners can enjoy the scene whatever, but a little bit of special light helps to capture the scene in a photo. May the sun shine for you often in 2022, best wishes
Julian
LikeLiked by 1 person
And, best wishes to you also, Julian for a very happy 2022. Best wishes and the best of health!
LikeLike
I always enjoy your photography; it’s a pleasure to see the garden through the year too. Happy New Year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many happy returns! Best wishes for the coming gardening year.
LikeLike
If one has had a good gardening year, it is very difficult to reduce it to a limited number of images. Your concept works very well and certainly gives a good sense of each month. I was lusting after those beautiful Trillium chloropetalum. I also grow Abies koreana and don’t know of any cones that are more interesting to see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This Trillium chloropetalum came from a now deceased dear gardening friend. Many other gardening friends have this plant from him also and it is outstanding, a wonderfully strong grower, perfectly reliable and a delight to grow. There is also a yellow-flowered seedling from his garden which I grow – pictured in the blog. And, yes, agreed re the Abies – the cones are very attractive
LikeLike
Seeing all that colour was definitely inspiring.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent choices and I remember seeing a few of them throughout the year so I suppose I was paying attention 😉
My absolute favorite are the hellebore seedlings on the roadside bank. Beautiful!
LikeLiked by 1 person