Not all rain...

 It feels as though it has been raining almost every day for weeks. Bits of my garden are so consistently wet I have stopped fighting it and made a wildlife pond! But looking back through the last couple of months photos, there have been a smattering of nicer days and blue skies. 

A surprise large pond tucked behind an old community hospital, so peaceful...

This was mid April when the fresh green growth was just getting going on the trees, giving them a splash of lime against the blue sky...

The plants in the garden are going crazy and the borders that looked as though they were underplanted suddenly look a bit overcrowded! I do this every year! I've allowed the forget me knots to take over a bit but I do love their frothy blue in every gap.

On the odd day when it has been dry enough and warm enough for a coffee in the garden, I love to look at it from a different perspective, through the alliums about to dazzle with their purple globes of stars...

And I am constantly amazed by natures ability to just 'inhabit' - this pond was wet mud 2 months ago. A bit of pond liner, a few old stones from around the garden, a wood pile behind a nearby shrub and a few bargain pond plants which are just getting going...and the frogs have already moved in! They sun themselves on the branch I left in the pond, or on the marginal plants or just chill out in the water, just hanging there. I have spotted five at once :-) and it has made me stop fretting about blanket weed as they don't seem unduly bothered and I think it will just sort itself out eventually.

I don't think it is possible to overestimate the positive impact this small outdoor space on my doorstep has on me. It is chaotic, full of plants that run riot, flop and smother their neighbours - definitely a work in progress in terms of the continuity of colour and form the garden design gurus tell you about - but it is undeniably a little community of living things that just get on with it, whatever I do or the weather does. And sometimes it just makes me stop to watch and listen and breathe...

S x

As winter recedes...I hope!

I am really not very good at the winter! I have always hated being cold and I now realise that I don't do well when the days are short and the light is limited. So as January and February inch past, I am relishing the glimpses of winter sunshine and the signs of new life reliably returning to the garden and hedgerows.

For various reasons, I haven't managed many photos for the last month but the snowdrops appearing in drifts have lifted my soul. On the woodland walk to the local garden nursery...

I enjoyed my first coffee and cake in the garden of the year with just a little weak sunshine brightening the sleepy flower beds...

And from my place under the pergola, last years teasel heads with this years plum blossom buds, ready to burst into frothy pale pink (forgive the lousy focus and the dodgy fence backdrop!)...

I must take some more photos of the things coming up - feels like Spring is just around the corner...

S x

Something...March photos

I am loving the longer days and that feeling of everything coming to life again. The garden is growing and beginning to look like the hard work of trying to tame it is going to pay off, the birds are busy building nests and the bees and early butterflies are beginning to appear.

Long walks and beautiful blooms have been my happy places for March so this month's 4 photos are...

Unexpected	Feb	Free
Thought provoking		Important
Exotic		Yellow	Jan
Interesting	Mar	Valuable
Exciting		Old
Happy	Feb	Fresh
Rough	Jan	Smaller than a mouse
Golden		Purple	Feb
You love	Feb	Glittery
Tasty		Orange
Shiny		Dirty
Colourful	Jan	Fluffy
Light		Green	Mar
Tall	Jan	Alive
Black		With wheels
Smooth		Short
White	Mar	With hair
Special		Heavy
Soft		Pink
Wet		Noisy
That moves		Blue	Mar
Tiny		Hard
Sharp		Clean
Red		To eat

Something interesting...

After a very windy night, this was in the flower bed. I'm pretty sure it's an old nest from last year but what fascinates me is the intricacy the birds achieve. It is a complex weave of mud, twigs and grasses and this year the blackbirds have been back and forwards, helpfully clearing moss from the garden, so I assume they have lined their new nests with lovely soft moss. Amazing.

Something blue...

I confess I am never quite sure about hyacinths, the usual 'indoor' varieties always seem as bit top heavy and I find the fragrance overpowering. But every year I am so desperate for some early colour, I end up growing a few then plonking them out in the garden! And actually these less showy versions outside are just beautiful, with their bluebell like two-tone flowers.

Something white...

On a walk in the sunshine, hedgerows are bursting with blossom. I love this time of year.

Something green...

And in the woods, fresh, bright green leaves are almost translucent amongst the branches, bringing the monochrome of the winter woodland back to life.

Interesting that I have unintentionally taken photos that tick the colour boxes this month. I crave colour by the end of the winter and suddenly the natural world is full of colour, sounds and scents, lifting my mood and making me want to be outside. I am so glad to have a garden again. Looking forward to seeing how it fills out this year.

Enjoy every day!

S

Something...February photos

Belated photo hunt from February snaps...difficult to choose this month - partly because life is so busy and partly because of the photos I have taken, some were shabby and, of the others, it seems I have taken so many that represent the hope and promise of early Spring. I love this time of year and it seems the descriptors of something happy... or something you love... or any number of others could be applied to many things. Which I guess makes this a positive month!

Something...

Unexpected	Feb	Free
Thought provoking		Important
Exotic		Yellow	Jan
Interesting		Valuable
Exciting		Old
Happy	Feb	Fresh
Rough	Jan	Smaller than a mouse
Golden		Purple	Feb
You love	Feb	Glittery
Tasty		Orange
Shiny		Dirty
Colourful	Jan	Fluffy
Light		Green
Tall	Jan	Alive
Black		With wheels
Smooth		Short
White		With hair
Special		Heavy
Soft		Pink
Wet		Noisy
That moves		Blue
Tiny		Hard
Sharp		Clean
Red		To eat

Something unexpected...

I am always amazed and delighted by the resilience of nature. A lesson for us all I think. These aconite bulbs arrived from a mail order company last year looking for all the world like a rotten slimy mess. I figured I had nothing to lose from slinging them into a pot, fully expecting them to just rot away into the soil. Nothing last year, then to my surprise, early Spring these pushed their way through. Not the promised 20 but just a few determined little plants, so they have earned their place in the garden and will find a more permanent home soon, where I hope they will spread their early cheer.

Something you love...

Tea in a pot - what my mum would have called 'proper' tea, made with tea leaves, topped with a cosy. Add a perfect little jug that holds just the right amount of milk for the two mugs my little pot holds and this is morning bliss. Or afternoon, come to that! The teapot has an integral strainer for the leaves, which ticks my boxes on so many counts - no faffing about with a tea strainer or blocking the sink when you clean the pot, tea leaves for my compost bin, cheaper tea and no environmentally dodgy tea bags. What's not to love?

Something happy...

Well, strictly speaking, something that makes me happy. That first blossom against a blue sky. Sitting in the garden under the plum tree, enjoying just a hint of warmth in the early Spring sunshine. Somehow this speaks to me of hope and future and the beginning of everything bursting into life.

Something purple...

Pulmonaria. Or lungwort. At first glance this might appear to be a relatively inconspicuous little plant but it is so reliable, covers the ground in shady areas of the garden and early in the year provides a carpet of colour, often with different shades on the same plant. Up close, the tiny flowers are almost translucent and the buds, stems and leaf edges covered in fine hairs that make it look as though it is shimmering in the low light. I love it.

Roll on longer days, happy hunting.

S

Changing seasons...

I think this is called Chaenomeles. It is flowering away outside the kitchen door, almost a bit excessive in its blowsy, show off bright red against the gentle blues and yellows of the crocuses and early daffodils.

 But rather beautiful all the same. And so nice to see some colour.

The sunshine through the trees on a walk in the woods makes it seem warmer than the reported temperature of 5C and a seat in a sheltered spot in a patch of sun was lovely. After another day of house hunting this was a moment to stop and think, work out my priorities and next steps.

And with the evening chill reminding me it is still early March, this was the perfect place for a cup of tea.

S x

Spring walk...

After weeks of lockdown, huge challenges at the hospital and then snow...a change of weather has brought a splash of colour to Mum's garden and a hint of warmth to the air. Better things ahead...

 

A walk through woodland, last week the track was deep in mud but this week quickly dried by the sunshine...

Bright silver birches, striking against the sky...

And way above, two buzzards circling slowly, for all the world looking as though they were just enjoying the chance to stretch their wings in the warmth...

Long shadows through the trees...

Small splashes of bright colour, as though nature has opened her paintbox and picked the most vivid hues to wake us up...

This county of Norfolk, that has felt so constraining for so many months, looking beautiful - who knew..?

So here's to things that lift the soul and happier days that must be coming...

Sx