YELLOW DAYS

 

So an update on Valerie the celery. She has a root to the bottom of the vase but it will be some time before we are crunching her stems. Perhaps a salad mix with apple?

Cold and wet and rainy but so what is new? I suspect when the swallows come they will head back south.

One day sun and springlike the next wet cold and windy.

The pink camellia by the shed has a white sport - one branch only. 

You cannot see it on this pic as I have cut them off and put them in a vase.

And everything is coming up blossom, especially the cherries - the Shirotae first then in a week or so the Great White.

And yellow everywhere - the cytisus, daffs and primroses.

To the story of the chippings - I got two more big sacks delivered and the gardener has put these on paths but still not enough! Time to give it a rest - anyway I told R that they had delivered green slate not blue and was somewhat berated until she saw them and said she preferred the green.

Moving one barrow load of manure at a time - enough for my back/hip whatever. 

Then raked out more weed from the pond - no spawn this year yet. I blame that heron - he/she has eaten the lot I think.

The fatsia seems to have flowered all winter and is still at it.

And I shall finish with a modest little plant - the golden saxifrage which flourishes by the stream.

EQUINOX AND ENTROPY

 So, been away for a couple of days and back to arrival of more chippings as did not get enough.

Let me start with a story about celery, bought from supermarket, top chopped off, bottom put in bulb vase but a jam jar would do. It is sprouting. Not a crop to save the world but something for nowt.

There are other things similar like cutting off the cauliflower and then incising a cross into the top of the stem to get four more small ones.

The weather is generally mild and wet. No mowing yet.

So halfway through the first half of the year, summer time ahead and a lot to do (or get someone else to do.)

The usual suspects are coming into flower - the magnolia stellata, and the camellias. The latter by the shed has several white flowers though the main plant is donation. Please ignore any yellowing of leaves.

I am a strong proponent of treating wallflowers like a small shrub and let them come year after year - not something that would please bedding fans but . . 

This one is five years old.

At the back of the pond and along the bottom hedge the hazel catkins have been like golden rain.

Outside the kitchen door the pots are accumulating.

On the way home we picked up a Stokesia laevis Mel's  blue and an Inula (elecampane) but the latter is huge so will have to think of gales and stuff when putting it in.

The hellebores have been splendid and have added another to the banking bed.

So as the rest of the world descends into chaos and I suffer from entropy the sun surprises us with sudden burst of warmth.

And it is Thursday, the day after the spring equinox and it is raining again. Reminds me of a song my mother used to sing - It’s wet again, yet again, the dog’s got to go to the vet again, bewitched, bothered, and bewil…….

Well, not those words exactly but you get the gist. And we do not have a dog now.

The big clock has chimed two, the house lights are on, the car is on charge and my cup of tea has gone cold. 

And nothing much by the pond, no spawn just a blackbird having a drink.

HERON AND HOPE

 So we have no frog spawn yet and we wonder if the heron has eaten them all. It is eating something in the top video but a bit small for a frog - perhaps a newt or water beetle larva.

Having said all that I do not know if it is a female or male bird, anyway I have decided to call it Keepya.

The small and wild daffs are doing ok, especially the wild ones under the white birches.

We now have a few more logs in the woodshed and I have tried to light the bonfire again - failed. The snowdrops are over so dividing time is here, a job R keeps for herself - and does very well. 

The flowering currant is coming on and the cassias have self seeded into the nearby path. In the back bed there is a big clump of green and I am not sure what it is. Perhaps it is a small allium? In the veg beds the rhubarb is good and we have early purple broccoli, not big enough yet for harvesting.

So back to Keepya flying off as I approach the pond but not as twitchy as it has been. I got within ten feet before it lifted away.

Trail camera on the left. 

So many twigs on the ground, R says leave them but . . .

At least we have finally had some sunshine, a cold breeze but no rain.