Gifts and wildflowers.

I celebrated my 60th birthday last week. I had not realised getting older could be such fun. My parents and mother in law bought me this beautiful bird bath.
It suits the bamboo garden very well.

Warmer weather has allowed me to spend more time in the garden. Division of plants are doing well and seedlings are growing. I am enjoying this project.

Wildflowers are a priority. Pasque flower is a native. She is a shy yet exotic beauty.......

now rarely seen in the wild. The name refers to Easter, when the large cup-shaped flowers unfurl on short stems from their hairy buds. They have five or six violet-purple petaloid sepals and an explosion of vibrant yellow stamens at their centre.

The leaves are bipinnate and feathery and the plant is covered in a fuzz of hairs.
Surely this must be one of our prettiest wildflowers??

Days are warm and sunny.........I saw two butterflies today, a peacock and a brimstone. Mallards and moorhen are regular visitors to the garden. Spring is here if only for a moment......mother nature often teases us during March and April, I am happy to play along with her.........