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Dear Monty,

Warm days soon to be turned to cold and wet - hard to believe on such a beautiful day - but the satellites tell us so.



I delight in the garden in spring, it takes you low to the ground as everything happens there first before the leaves fill out the trees and shrubs.




The spring flower succession has improved year on year here since I have allowed self seeding and natural multiplication. When too many plants start to crowd, that is when I move them to new positions. As the daffs die back - violets bloom in a sudden abundance with forgotten forget-me-nots springing up where I did not plant them !





Cowslips also surprise me as they create a tapestry among older plantings of aquilegia and flag irises - it is just thrilling because they arise from what was seemingly dead ground.









The 'lawn' daises wake up and the quaking grass sprouts.

Common blue, speckled wood, comma and peacock butterflies all on the wing. A buzzard overhead today, followed by a red kite. Yesterday it was the peregrine falcon - so great to see and hear it again. All of the garden and woodland birds fell silent and fled the exposed feeder on the budded maple.

It is such a privilege to have the time to mooch in your own garden - to look and listen, to move some plants and leave others to see what happens. Then just sit with a cuppa and a book - this time a re-read of your 'A French Garden Journey' - read with fresh eyes, I had forgotten La Vallee. Your descriptions conjuring pictures in my minds-eye that could even be applied here below the coal tip.


















Paul.

Comments

  1. Unknown27 April 2015 at 07:47

    my kind of garden!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anne Wareham28 April 2015 at 10:19

    The beautiful season - when gardens struggle to compete with the countryside - and the countryside creeps into our gardens...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul Steer28 April 2015 at 14:55

      Yes! The creeping buttercup is everywhere in the borders along with ivy - but I care not because it never overwhelms - niether do the nettles.

      I now have wild rabbits munching my ornamental grasses - buying your book to read for my hols! X

      Delete

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