Woodland

That is what I call this bed, which I look out on when sitting in Dad's old rocking chair. It is tucked beneath the western boundary of the garden, on the north side of the house, so shady, with hazel up by the well, and flowering currant to add protection. As you step out of the sitting room, the Japanese lady welcomes you along the path.

You walk down, not knocking your head on the multitude of bird feeders that hang from the tree you pass: a good place for a cat to watch for a mouse. At the other end, a Japanese lantern is tucked beneath a rhododendron.

Halfway down you might notice this carefully tied back chaenomeles. Planted a number of years ago, it was subjected to indignities various as the path was constructed, and then reconstructed. I thought it lost, but it managed to hang on by the skin of its teeth, and is now bravely flowering at the base of the fence, more coral than pink as here. The lovely twisted ironwork is the lantern stand my son in law made me, some years ago - it holds a glass candle holder lantern we bought in Istanbul, you can see that in the first picture.

At the base of another leg, epimedium at its delicate best, with bishop's hat leaves and fairy flowers

it makes a beautiful backdrop to this little self seeded primula

Tucked away in its new home, fiercely protected with canes against badger and cat, some Solomon's Seal, generously offered to me from the garden of some friends, a few weeks ago. The leaves are just starting to unfurl. They are bathed in sun in the morning, protected by the shade of the house and flowering currant for the rest of the day,

If you turned your back on them, and looked across the garden you would find windflower and primrose, trickling down the bank opposite

and if you walked back up the path to the little waterfall by the pond, perhaps followed by a cat, 

you might find a few garden gods gathered over the years. They stand guard at the top, where the little birds come down to drink, and the blackbirds to bathe

Down by the pond the waterboy holds out his shell, reminding me it needs refilling

and the big and little fish bask in the afternoon sunshine

 Above, that cat has settled in his pot

and a daffodil by the door seems the perfect colour to be tucked into the woodland bed; to settle there once it has finished flowering.