Bits and Pieces

This week the iris in the garden have unfurled to reveal all their inky loveliness. We have also got lots of baby birds in the garden coming to get fed or be fed at the feeders.  I am finding it very difficult to concentrate and work on anything at the moment so decided to make a small hanging using up scraps of fabric from some instructions I saved from a magazine a long, long time ago.

Spring in Malvern

There are always surprises in our garden. Lots of flowers have opened under the area where the bird feeders are and they bring a smile to my face everytime I go to hang some washing out, which seems to be on an almost a daily basis at the moment!!

On Tuesday afternoon DH decided to put up some trellis that has been residing in the garage for over year.  Have you ever seen anyone who assembles the trellis and posts, screwing them together, before erecting them in the postholes and concreting them in? I despair at times.  I think it must be his left handed brain. He will have the problem of getting them level today before the concrete goes into the holes. Must make myself scarce …..

Fabulous Weather

Just had a few days away in Yorkshire and come home to find a lovely clump of crocus have burst into bloom under the Corkscrew Hazel in the garden.  Brings a smile to your face.

Also been catching up on cycling since I returned and done a 16 mile ride on my own from Croome Park against a brisk wind and then a 20 mile ride with WOW ladies from Jinney Ring near Droitwich. The weather was fabulous for the latter ride.  A joy to be out and about.

Church close to Croome Park

Otley still has lots of evidence of cycling around ….

Even more Snowdrops

I absolutely adore snowdrops and there are lots about at the moment.  These were captured in the garden on one of the frosty mornings we have had recently.

A bit of sunshine in the garden. A very small patch, which were here when we moved in 7 years ago, has now increased to quite a large mass of cowslips. Luckily parts of our lawn are very wet, plus the primula-type family grow like weeds here. We have masses of wild primroses too.

Spring is Just Around the Corner

I spent most of today clearing up branches that had fallen from the trees in The Dell, together with the rubbish that gets washed down the stream into our garden.  Managed to fill 4 garden bags and 1 huge bag with all the rubbish.  Unfortunately I then found some more rubbish, but had to stop as I had run out of bags to put it in. At least the sun was out and I was warm whilst I was working.  The temperature was awfully low.

Look What I Spotted

In the cool (?) of the evening yesterday I was deadheading some self sown foxgloves when I found these little creatures.  After looking online on the BBC website I now discovered that they are ladybirds emerging and that they can take up to 2 weeks to fully transform.  As suggested on the website I have put them in a jam jar with a bit of foliage to see what happens next. I will then release them.

Everything is Blooming - Or not!!

In my case 'Or Not'.  Life is very difficult at the moment but who cannot smile when you see these in the garden (Francis E Lester)

... and the perfume from them is fantastic

The Sunshine in My Life

How can you not feel happy when you have a patch of sunlight in the garden like this to brighten up your day.

Lots of flowers popping up in the garden

What a surprise on Friday when I looked out of the window and saw several of these large yellow crocus had come into bloom.  I have been looking for the stems poking through for quite a while and had not seen any indication that they were about to bloom.  Of course the sun helped which ade them open up their little hearts to catch some warmth.  The honey bees were glad of somewhere else to gather some pollen.

Lots of snowdrops around the garden.  These ones are under the bird feeder in the back garden.

Cyclamen and primroses out at the top of the garden and I noticed a single vinca flower out too.

Good news  ....  I have almost completed two more wrap round pinafores to wear at workshops.  One has been unpicked, cut to a smaller size and reassembled and the other is a different pattern I am trying out.

A Big Day

Today I became an official pensioner having reached the magic age for normal retirement.  Suppose it is downhill from here onwards.  Went out into the garden to admire these beautiful snowdrops to cheer myself up.  They are huge and the flowers are 6 - 7cm across when open in the sun.  They are 'Comet'. The sun has been shining today and the honey bees next door have been out collecting nectar. I am so lucky to be in good health and have such lovely friends.

Up The Garden Path

Earlier this week I finished the edging of the path along the side of the house.  (Don't look too close as some of it looks a bit bent, but I think it is the boards and not my handiwork?) It should have boards along the left hand side too but I am worn out!! Also rapidly running out of space for the soil I have excavated.

Today I have returned to the bit at the front and am digging it deeper and breaking up a pile of old bricks to use as a sub base.  It solves two problems 1. What to do with a load of soft old bricks that had been buried under soil in the garden for years; and 2. It will provide a nice firm base for the membrane and gravel when I get round to adding it.

Winged Things

I found this beautiful Painted Lady butterfly dead in the garden this week.  As it had its wings open it shows the beautiful patterns on both the upper and under sides ....

Imagine my surprise then on the same day to find these two moths sat on the house wall under the shower room window.  I think they were 'Old Lady Mormo maura' moths.  Apparently they rest during the daytime in houses and barns.  They were quite large. Their patterning is supposed to look like the shawls worn by elderly Victorian ladies.

Just done a bit more investigation and wonder if they were rarer Clifden Nonpareil Catocal fraxini. They were definitely large.

White and Wonderful

This year I decided to plant some pots of tulip bulbs which have been a major failure really.  One pot produced leaves and started to get flowers before rotting off and the pot above has got stunted growth, but presumably encouraged by the recent sunshine, has now flowered and looks rather nice with the blue anenome blanda in the bottom of the pot - a 'Freebie' which I won in the local Horticultural Society raffle.

Nice Friends I have!!

This mug, given to me recently by one of my dear friends, is supposed to assist me if I forget what a squirrel looks like.  Those of you who know me well will be aware of why this is a joke in particularly bad taste!

We have lots of crocus out in both the front and back lawns at the moment but they seem to be in blocks of one colour.  Do not know why as they were planted randomly. Don't they make you full of joy when the sun comes out and they open their blooms wide?

Is this Spring I espy?

I am not so easily fooled!  Whilst I was away at the weekend the newly planted daffodils under the front hedge decided to burst open their buds.  The celandines have been out for some time now and we have large, cup shaped, yellow and purple crocus out in the front lawn. A little reminder of 'The Stray' in Harrogate, but doubt they are out that far North just yet.

The visit to Wisley showed us how far behind we are here ...

The reeds and seedheads were fabulous too

but I bet you are all glad you have not got this huge bug in your garden ...

Strange Visitor

I found this little chap sat on the french door glass one day this week and think it might be an Amblyptilia punctidactyla, which is a plume moth found in the UK.  It was very small and they are actually 18-23 mm in size.

Here and there in the garden

Last week the builder finished off a little wall for me and I spent most of the Saturday shifting soil from one place to another.  Even after all my hard work there is still a little mountain to move ....

You can see it lurking behind the garden chair

The dwarf(?) conifer in this photo was the home to this lovely Dunnock's nest earlier in the year, but as far as we are aware a squirrel probably had the babies that were in there.

The nest is currently in the garage, but it will have to go before long as it is very fragile now it is no longer wedged in the conifer.  It is very small and it is hard to imagine how the little Dunnocks all got wedged in there.

and finally the roses are in full bloom now and are spectacular as is the perfume from them

It is not hard to see why we get so many squirrels with all this greenery about.

Birds and Roses

My pigeon friends have now brought along some younger versions of themselves and I cannot decide whether they are their offspring or not.

On the left, in the trough, is the ringed racing pigeon with a hole in his neck and on the right is one of the young ones. The other one seems to be missing this evening.

and here we have the first pair joined by the one we call 'White Wings' and they are all wondering when I am going to give them something to eat.

'White Wings' is not allowed to eat whilst the 'holey one' is eating.

The roses are gradually coming out in the garden now, but my favourites are the wild roses which we have in the front hedge.  We have the pink ones at the top of the hedge and at the bottom we have these white ones ....

In addition to these our next door neighbour's 'Rambling Rector' is now in full bloom and the perfume fills our front garden.  The ramblers in our back garden are only just starting to open their buds.  We have Francis E Lester, Felicite de Perpetue and Bobby James.

More Digging

I keep saying that I am not going to dig out any more borders in this garden and then I seem to find my self digging again.  This time I have been lowering the level of the soil near the house wall as it was above the damp course.  My little builder friend is going to make me a nice wall to retain the lawn, which was already several inches higher than the existing path that was once there. You might be able to see the old bricks we are going to recycle in the background behind the trellis.

It took me all day on Saturday to clear this bit and I ran out of steam so there is a nice pile of turf which needs something doing with it.  I wheelbarrowed all the soil around to the front garden to a section where I have dug out all the plants to create a link between an existing lawn and a new one which is waiting to be turfed - and has been waiting for around a year now.

The tall fir tree thing near to the house was home to a nest full of dunnocks, but we suspect that the squirrel may have had them as the nest is now empty and I do not think they have had time to fledge properly since the last time I looked in and they were there.

In addition to all this activity, I have badly bruised a finger on my right hand and also my thumb has sustained slight damage too whilst sawing wood.  The reason for this is that DH threw a pile of branches that needed cutting up behind the aforesaid pile of bricks as they were annoying him.  I was incensed and decided, as I had just cleared the area and tidied it up, that I had better get the saw out (in between digging you understand) and cut up all the wood into logs and store them away in my hut.  It was my fault it was there in the first place as I had chopped off a load of branches several weeks ago from some of the Hazel trees in the dell.  Since then I have either not had the time or the weather has not been right for me to do anything about them.