April Showers

Typical Bank Holiday weather in the UK; I woke up this morning to a garden sparkling with raindrops, then it clouded over and along came another series of showers.  Now the sun is shining and the temperature rising slightly, so I took my camera and had a wander...

home grown drumstick primula

The two woodland borders are at their best at this time of year with primula, grape hyacinth, aubretia, narcissi and pasque flowers all putting on a show.  These borders can be seen from the kitchen and utility room windows and really cheer me up in the morning as I fill the kettle for my morning tea.

aubretia and grape hyacinth under the old apple tree

blues and yellows

Most of the spring planting is focused on these borders but I am beginning to branch out with spring flowering plants and bulbs.  There are some lovely new tulips in the party patio border, a soft lemon and sprinkled with water droplets sparkling like diamonds...

Then there is the camellia nestling in between my potting shed and the Handyman's workshop.  We brought this plant with us in a pot from our previous home.  We planted it in one of the large lawn borders initially but it was too exposed there and we moved it in the autumn of 2010 to this more sheltered site.  It didn't flower at all last year, probably sulking from the move, but this year it has lots of lovely pink flowers, it really brightens up this sheltered corner.

I planted five pasque flower plants a couple of years ago and last year collected the seed heads and planted them in pots, stood them behind the greenhouse and promptly forgot all about them until the beginning of March.  And there to my delight were a number of small plants ready for popping into the borders.  I love the nodding heads of these flowers and the softness of the foliage.  The purple flowers are followed by airy seed heads which are equally attractive.  I've got a red variety that I'm going to take the seeds from this year and see what transpires by next spring.

purple pasque flowers from seed

Finally, for this post, I love driving down the lane towards Holly Grove at any time of the year but right now whilst the daffodils and the damson blossom are out this makes such a pretty picture and always causes me to smile.

at the entrance to Holly Grove

So there we are, some sunshine on a cloudy day...now for the other Bank Holiday ritual...the ironing!