The garden is revving its engines; it is in the starting blocks and it will explode into full bloom soon. There is so much stored energy that is waiting to be released by the slightest touch of warm sunshine.
The garden is full of buds that are ready to bust!
However, it looks like snow is in the forecast again! After our cold, cold winter, spring might be a little delayed.
Last autumn I planted crocuses in the lawn.
Then, I promptly forgot that I had ever done it.
So, when they popped out of the grass this spring it was like finding money in an old jacket pocket. What a delightful surprise! We almost stepped on them before we realized!
Now there are white and purple shoots popping up all over the lawn. It is so wonderful to look down on them from my studio window and see a rainbow of colour.
Can you spot the arc of white crocus buds in the grass? They start at the base of the bird bath and arc towards the rose bushes. The purple ones are to the left, but I think I need to plant more white and yellow ones next autumn, as the darker buds get lost in the dark green grass from far away. We need bright colours in February! (Note to self for October 2023! Order more yellow and white crocuses!)
They will have died back by the time we want to run around on the grass, and will reappear next February and March.
More of these bright ones please!
Are you tired of cyclamen pictures yet? No? Good.
They are a pop of colour all winter long.
This snowdrop flower popped up by itself. I love volunteer flowers. They are like surprise presents from the garden.
The sweet-box hedging planted by our front door smells like honey-vanilla every afternoon. It fills the air with joy.
Two brave daffodils have emerged despite the cold, and a muscari (grape hyacinth) bud.
The camellia is ready to yawn and stretch after a winter sleep. The buds are just emerging from their tight covers and showing blushes of pink.
Winter heathers still going strong…
I love the burgundy leaves of new rose growth. Hopefully we’ll have an abundance of blooms in May and June.
The purple plum tree is looking like a Japanese painting. It is exactly the height of our house, so we can watch the trunk and canopy from all our windows. There are birds that live at each level, as if it were a multiplex apartment block. Scandinavian Redwings are on the top branches, nearest the low grey clouds. They will move out soon and start their long journey back to their arctic nesting grounds. Tits and goldfinches live in the middle layer, swooping down to the feeder in acrobatic leaps. And a shy woodpecker sometimes creeps along the bark of the lower trunk, looking for seeds and insects.
The viburnum has blush pink buds, ready to pop and deep glossy aubergine berries.
