SO MUCH GOING ON

You know how you can get a pulse in your lip or eyed and it twitches away for hours, well, I have a vibrating left nipple. No I do not have my phone in the breast pocket I just thought it was something I ought to share with you.

Loveliest of trees the cherry now . . .

I am writing this as the first signs of the blossom going over are here. The Plum has already gone but the pear is wonderful.

R has been brambling in the top of the wood and tells me that ivy is taking over - spreading across the ground. Looks like another job for the garden assassin. Whilst she was up there she said the breeze brought the scent from the rhododendron up to her - a bit of heaven. The azaleas have yet to come and pong us silly.

I have been putting up poles and tying them together for I have finally sown sweet peas - the special ones from Sarah Raven - in pots and put them in the shed window. I have also sown our courgette (marrow) seeds saved from last year.

Out in the cutting bed last year's calendulas are flowering and I have sown more Sweet Williams, wallflowers and creamy yellow foxgloves for next year as they are biennial.

The tulips in pots are fantastic - will do it again next year. We are blasted by colour. I tried to do a Dixter with them and mixed all sorts of colour in a big way. (For those who do not know Great Dixter was a magnificent garden owned by the late Christopher Lloyd where he never held back on colour unless it was intended). Does that last sentence make sense?

Our singing chaffinch is still belting it out - he must be hanging upside down by one claw by now.
Only a quick glimpse of a passing swallow and no martins yet.
Mr Pheasant struts his stuff but suddenly no sign of the two mates. I suspect they are sitting on their nests up under the rhododendrons as usual.

Not all the flowers in the garden are colour-blasters. Some of the less obvious ones are also beautiful in a very different way.












These are gooseberry on the left and redcurrant on the right. Many plants have wonderful flowers - take the sycamore whose greenish yellow tassels can compete with laburnum - well nearly. A big marguerite has splendid daisy flowers but the small common daisy has not just white and yellow but later in the year sometimes red tinges - go on, down on your knees and look.

On Monday the temperature got up to nearly 20C in the shade - glorious but not too hot. Almost makes one want to dive into the pond - almost.

This makes me wonder if our new pond should be a wild swimming pool. That does describe the stroke I use - a sort of sluggish pull with a twisted leg kick - five strokes and then a float on the back for a rest.

We are in drought - well not far off! R has been secretly watering the primroses on the banking as they are wilting. The garden is becoming dry and we have not had any significant rain for some time. The stream is trickling rather than running and the pond is low.

This pic is a cheat - water does not only come from clouds.

Nipple is off again,
Bye.