Springtime ~ in which flowers emerge

Hello Friends!

I love Spring! There's just so much to love as the Earth awakens from it's long, slow regeneration over the cold, dark Winter months; the light returns bringing a few precious minutes more with each new day; leaves and flowers sprout, grow and flourish; and we look forward to warmer days ahead that put an end to the cabin fever days of Winter. If we are lucky, we get a taste of Summer days ahead, which is especially good over Easter when almost everyone has time off work.

Here's what's happening in my cottage garden as the weeks of the year turn slowly into late Spring.

I haven't decorated my front porch for a number of years. Alzheimer's is a strange disease, and while Mum ordinarily loved to see what I had made, as her illness progressed the disturbance to her environment caused by the simplest of things would bring on a change in temperament.  So, it was best not to decorate and disturb the familiar surroundings.  This year, it took everything I had to do anything at all, but I know she would love it, and hope she was smiling as she looked down upon my Easter buntings.

I've pottered about with some pots, and underplanted the slate trough with violas. I am slowly doing away with pots, everything will eventually find a new home in the evolving borders, but you would not think so to see the patio this year!

I love my white Pasque flower. It came into it's own, full of pure white blooms just in time for Easter.

It's now in that stage where the earliest of the blooms are turning brown and the temptation is to dead head and tidy it up, but I know that if I do I won't see the reason I grow this lovely plant, and that is to see, and photograph, the simply fabulous seed heads which provide a great point of interest for many weeks to come.

One of the things you will notice about me as I putter around the borders is that I am not fast, oh, no, I am a slow gardener for I like to give the awakening wildlife a chance to wake from their lazy, sunny afternoon dozing amongst the weeds, giving them an opportunity to escape to another spot, but not before I have snapped them!  Here is a beautiful Angle Shades moth.

Not moving in haste also gives me time to find mosses, worts, and lichens that scatter in the soil or on plant pots.  I think this is a liverwort but it looks more like something from outer space!

Last Summer, my village hosted a charity fundraising open gardens weekend. It was a relaxing two days, popping into every open garden for a peek, a chat, and often a cup of tea and some cake. A few gardeners had potted up small cuttings to sell to generate more money for the cause. I bought this, a Libertina, and completely forgot all about it until I found the pot yesterday afternoon. It's a striking plant, I love the bright, vertical stripes of colour, and I think my camera and I will have a lot of fun with this one as the Summer progresses!

Finally, for today, the Aquilegia have started to open, and I am pleased with this photo I took of the earliest bloom to break bud, looking forward to many more in the coming weeks!

Thank you for stopping by today ~~~
Until next time ~~~
Deborah

A Quiet Visitor to the Garden ~~~

Hello Friends!

For the past ten days or so the weather has meant no gardening {only if I really, really had to} as it has been very cold and very windy. I'm not a fan of gardening in twenty to thirty mile an hour winds!  However, it has been a lovely spring day today, the sun shone brightly in a boldly blue sky, and cottontail puffs of clouds scurried along in the not too insignificant breezes that billowed and blew the cobwebs away ~~~ a perfect afternoon for a few hours weeding in the garden, so booted and suited in my gardening togs off I went and carried on the job of clearing the raspberry patch ~~~

I had not been clearing very long when I discovered I had a very quiet companion. At first I thought it was a leaf, but then I realised it was a beautiful Angle Shades moth {Phlogophora meticulosa ~ which sounds rather like a spell from a Harry Potter novel!}

With a wingspan of about 45 ~ 50 mm, it is a fairly common moth, especially in southern coastal areas, with distinctive markings and looking not unlike a withered leaf {great camouflage}.

It would not let me go! It clung on to my gloves, and despite my best efforts refused to fly away to the safety of nearby cover, so moth on hand I came and found my camera and took some photos of the obliging little creature.  Here are the best ones I managed ~~~ to see a larger image, just click on each image ~~~

Eventually, the dear little thing decided it was best if it listened to me, so I released it quietly into a lovely patch of brambles and nettles ~~~

Until next time ~~~

~~~Deborah xo