Early Signs of Spring

I thought I would post a few photographs from my time in the garden this morning. Despite a downpour yesterday, there is hardly any water in the old tray at present, but these spiders were making the most of the sunshine.

Way ahead of St David's Day, we were thrilled to see these buds. 

Our soil doesn't seem particularly suited to Snowdrops, but it is always a joy to peer under the Hydrangea and see these small white harbingers of spring.

I also noticed two Hellebore buds. 

And finally, these catkins beyond our garden fence were turning gold in the sunlight.  

Day 22, #30DaysWildCreativity: Post-Solstice, 2020

Of Eyes and Iridescence

Monday, 22 June 2020

On this day when the first poppy opened

I sensed the tug of the long haul

towards winter through the amber light

of harvest, the embers of bonfires

and the muted music of freezing fog.

On this day when the first poppy opened

I buried my eyes in the corn marigold’s gold,

immersed myself in the deep sea-blue

of the cornflower, and delighted in the yellow

and white design of an ox-eye daisy.

On this day when the first poppy opened

I committed these flowers to memory,

afraid that fiery petals would soon flutter 

to the ground, fearful that I would miss

the eyespots of the peacock butterfly.

                                         © CG 2020

* * *

This post was composed this afternoon as my response to Dr Miriam Darlington's 'What do you miss, grieve for, as the year tips?' Facebook meme as part of #30DaysWildCreativity.

Spring Colour

Despite strong winds we have had patches of fine sunshine today in the garden. I hadn't been over to the far fence for some time and was delighted to stumble upon this show of 'naturalising' Cyclamen. We had a tiny pot of them some years ago, and now suddenly they have taken off! Is this due to our relatively frost-free winter, do you think? Apparently the Cyclamen we buy here in the UK have their origins in the wild, especially in places around the Mediterranean.

It's still over a month until St David's Day, but we couldn't resist these small Daffodils (or are they Narcissus?). We planted them in with the miniature Iris you see below, and I couldn't help noticing that the yellow and blue colours match those of a certain flag...

We visited a local nursery to buy our plants this afternoon, rather than the commercial garden centres, but I wonder when biodegradable pots will become the norm. I do hope it will be soon. Small plastic flowerpots (like the one with the daffs) are not much use to us once the plants have been planted out. The plastic container with the Iris was bought years ago before the plastic issue became so well known and so pressing. It has been reused many times and, since we have it, will doubtless continue to house new plants as needs arise. How do you keep plastic to a minimum in your gardening endeavours, I wonder?

While we were outside, we couldn't help noticing how unfazed the birds seemed by our presence. Robin, Starling, Long-tailed and Blue tits simply carried on eating the fat and seeds in the coconut feeders. I even saw a large Queen Bumblebee looping the loop. How long before my first butterfly sighting?

First Snowdrop

I posted a picture of frost in my previous post on a day when our tiny wildlife pond was a sheet of ice. This morning I caught a spell of sunshine and went outside, only to find this single Snowdrop. It was such a cheering sight, even if the photo, taken on my phone, barely shows off its 'singular' beauty.