Blogging break......

I am learning about the soil beneath my feet......

I need to make changes to the garden......more shelter belts, new borders. I need more time......

I also plan one day to run a small nursery from my home. This year will be spent taking cuttings, dividing perennials etc.....hopefully by this time next year I will have plenty of plants to sell.

My time is limited due to family commitments. With that in mind, I have decided to take a few months away from blogging.

I also feel you must tire of seeing the same plants each season........I feel I am a tad repetitive at times. Perhaps a break will be a good thing.......

The weather has turned and is as it should be for this time of year.
I gardened today in icy rain.....
The garden is looking very pretty......spring bulbs are popping up, and giving lots of colour.

Enjoy your gardens and the spring weather when it arrives.

I will be back in the summer, or possibly before if something amazing happens and I need to tell someone about it.

Have fun.........

sunday safari...a secret garden.

As time passes the small copse is becoming a quiet and secluded place.

Flowers bloom early here because she is sheltered. My first daffodil is about to open......

Mosses grow on decaying fallen branches.....

Elder grows from a rotting tree stump. This small area is full of life and death.......

A pot that was blown over in the wind becomes a home for some small creature.

Plants and trees grow, without attention.

We can grow something beautiful by shaping nature.....

but left to its own devices, a garden will show a certain character,
create its own atmosphere. This is now a secret garden. It has a magic all of its own..... nature has the upperhand. I am loving watching the changes.

Have you an area in your garden that has great meaning? Do tell me, I would love to hear about it.......

Happy Sunday safari.

An early Spring

It's all moving a little too fast for me. The mild weather has encouraged growth.

I fear a change of weather........harsh frosts are not something I care to think about at the moment. At this time I am enjoying working in the garden and I truly appreciate all that is around me. Everything is changing, and I almost can feel the sap rising within me.

I love Hazel catkins, I like to watch them dancing in the breeze.

The red flowers are hard to spot, they are so tiny. Look close now.......
Erica carnea 'Springwood Pink' flowers from November to March. They are very wind resistant and do well on this exposed site.

Skimmia japonica 'Rubella' covered in bunches of rosy pink buds. They like shade, too much sun and their leaves turn yellow.

I find the stinking hellebore strangely attractive. The pendulous stems, with their clusters of neat greenish - yellow cup shaped flowers, outlined in reddish - purple are so unusual.......I like them, I really do.

The plant has evolved an unusual way of dispersing its seeds.

They exude an oil that attracts snails; once the snail has consumed the oil, the seed sticks to its slime and is carried away to a new site. Fascinating.

Have a lovely weekend and I hope the weather is kind to you.

Sunday safari.........in search of flowers.

Last year I was given a beautiful book......In a Unicorn's Garden. It has been a source of inspiration to me and has pride of place on my bedside table. As I read the book a seed was planted in my mind, and started to grow. A 'winter meadow' beneath the old apple tree is the result.
What follows is an extract from the book....beautifully written.......and something that feeds the soul of this romantic gardener.

Somewhere deep within we all carry the memory of an archetypal paradise garden,

a place both gently ordered and of wild exquisite beauty,
filled with fruit and nut trees that defy the seasons, spangled with blossom,
bowed down with fruit dripping with ripe sweetness.

The ground is carpeted with soft meadow grasses and scattered with glittering wild strawberries and tiny flowers.

In this garden the sunlight has a golden purity,

the breezes are sweet and we are enfolded by a gentle nature.
In a place of such fecundity, such tranquility,

such sensuous pleasures that every generation seeks to recreate this earthly garden of enchantment.

Happy Sunday safari........

Fairy Garden

Poppi and Riley stayed last weekend.

They helped me tidy the fairy garden, beneath the old apple tree.

It did not take long to remove the leaves and debris.

A female blackbird watched us work.

Dwarf iris are ready to burst into bloom.

My father gave me the fairies many years ago.

They have aged beautifully and are very precious to me.

To walk the garden you would think that Spring had arrived. The weather tells otherwise........an angry wind is whipping across the garden. I can hear it in the house, it comes done the chimney and sounds quite ghostly. I am not keen on the wind, it frightens me a little. I did not like it as a child. A branch near my bedroom window would tap against the glass, and make shadows on my bedroom wall. I spent a lot of time under the blankets when the wind blew.......

I hope the weather is peaceful in your part of the world....

Have a lovely weekend.

Tiny woodland.......

One of my most favourite areas in this garden is the woodland walk. It was the first mark made on this plot. I have watched it develope with interest and after the initial planting, I have left Mother Nature to take charge. I like her style, she does it so much better than I ever could.

It does not matter how small or large a garden is, it is what we do with it that matters.

In a changing world, I get much comfort from the garden. It is a natural space, full of life. Can you see the fly......the sweet perfume of the Christmas box has charmed him.......me also.

This is a green space, green is good, when the skies have held nothing but grey for weeks and weeks on end.
Our native Lords and Ladies have risen from the soil, some have spotty leaves. They are lush this year, perhaps the extended cold weather has done them good.
A woodland would be incomplete without native primrose. They line the pathway, putting on such a pretty show.
Stinking Hellebore, another native. The leaves smell when they are crushed, their blooms are much loved by bees. I watch the 'mosi' on the leaf.......

BUT the star of the show has to be our native snowdrop. Such a fragile looking bloom and yet they survive the coldest temperatures, and never fail to bring a smile.

A week of milder temperatures has brought much life to the woodland walk. The cold weather returns at the end of the week. Despite that, I feel as though I am

walking the path to spring, that she is only a breath away. It is good to dream.