April 25th, 2012

What a difference a week has made!!!

The trees are all leafed out - that tender green that only spring indulges in...

Here are daffodils I gathered from the garden on the hill, just ten days ago.....

The bulbs in the side garden here in town were still quite tentative about making a full blown appearance.

and the willows along the old river bed were still yellow with catkins

during the week Frank helped put the Lady back up on her pedestal

and the birds all gathered at the fountain for a drink

the peonies that have been growing in this garden for a few years are now in bud, while

the new arrivals from the hill garden are a little slower in getting started

bythe middle of the week the jonquils and daffodils were flourishing

the Olalla bushes along the back of the 'park' were dainty in white

and the willows were green as grass.....

.
The quince is in bloom, and a lovely surprise..

 this frail vine with delicate white blossom - what can it be?

 the tulips in the  evening
and below they open to the morning sun....  while Callie surveys it all, inquisitively.  She loves to be outside and has mastered the Cat Door  both coming and going!

 Finally we arrive at today, (which, incidentally, marks the anniversary of the day that Charles and I met sixty nine years ago, down by the riverside)

In celebration our new little patch of hankie lawn at the front skewered its tiny seeds down into the black loam and popped up slender green spears to give the whole thing a lovely verdant aura!

I went to the hill garden in the morning and brought home a small hosta, a bit of white phlox and a piece of blue montano.

Here are the tulips that are blooming in that garden, as beautiful as ever....

and the flowering almond which was too well rooted to make the trip to town with us

the view of the Cawston hills as comforting as always.

and here is the little bed of bulbs and summer flowers that sits outside the picket fence

eager to wave at passers-by.

It has been a fine week in the garden. although a sad one as we waited while death came with tender

arms and took our dear friend Joan into a place of peace and quietness and friends long gone.

Friday, April 13th, 2010

Spring has held the most delightful surprises in the garden.  Not having become intimate with all that grows here until sometime in June, last year, I had no idea how many pretty bulbs there were.  Not the amount, nor the variety in the garden on the hill, but nonetheless adequate  for our thirst for beauty, and most especially it is not overwhelming......

Here are some pictures.....

The pretty creeper that protects the roots of the clematis from the hot summer sun

tulip bulbs around the base of the mountain ash - also some iris and some elephants ears

the hellebore from up above

a little clump of daffodils

and tulips

and the oriental poppy, growing by leaps and bounds

a part of the side bed

and an elegant picture of the maple at the front, - the one we don't know

the name of, but admire the show it puts on in the spring.

the lovely, delicate willow

and some pretty bulbs and iris outside the kind of wonky fence

bird house - free occupancy

a pretty corner when the roses are in bloom

the pussy willow has shed all its catkins, covering the back lawn

I presume the bees and other flying creatures have done what they were supposed to do

in regards to pollen and fertilization

I am waiting to see what this lovely plant produces

and here are the beautiful satiny centres of the Oriental Peony, surrounded

by their ferny fringe

the raspberry bed, all tidied up courtesy of Vince

and another bird house, behind which grows a rhubarb plant

a delphinium, and with the delphinium the lilies have shown themselves,

I remember their lovely, delicate colours.

Along the back the raised bed is packed with plants from the garden on the hill, and an Abraham Darby I bought from Don and Anna's last fall, which seems to have survived the winter quite nicely.

I have planted sweet peas along between the fence and the raised bed, and have made a little list of other annuals I would like to have (well, must have.._ like cosmos, nasturtion, cleome, foxglove, if possible and the list goes on and on.  I found a canterbury bell growing in the garden on the hill and snaffled it for a little corner in the raised bed!!!

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth will find reserves of strength that will last as long as life lasts.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature - the assurance that dawn comes after night and spring after winter.

Rachel Carson