Transition

The garden is evolving from the wonders of daffodils and tulips, primroses and other spring delights that were here a few weeks ago.

and robins are singing their courting songs, hanging around in the morning waiting for the Man to provide their breakfast, often within a few feet of his busy hands

It is in one of my favourite phases just now, where the maple, ceanothus and rhododendron create the most ravishing sequence of colours,

The forget me nots are in their final phase of flowering, challenging me to delay puling them out because there are still a few blooms, but also being rather thuggish about drowning out everything else with their ticklish furred leaves

the garden seat beckons, and the little water boy is guarding the pond with its conical cover very carefully. 

cornflower sparkle against the lime green of euphorbia

maple leaves and their flower sprigs catch the slanting sunlight

and in the front garden granny’s bonnets are nodding their heads as the sun sinks in the sky, 

and the iris are creating fleur-de-lis of light against the fence.

What joy

Japan's beauty

It has been a while since I wrote. In the between time I have been away on a great adventure, long awaited and much anticipated: two weeks on a textile tour of Japan. I must confess to some trepidation beforehand; a long flight, potential for being fed "squiggly things" (I am a food coward), potential for offending the Japanese folk through misunderstanding. All nonsense of course, the trip was just marvelous, and included a large and inspiring amount of textile related visits and workshops. It also included two breathtaking gardens; one at the Adachi Museum of Art in Yasugi, and the second, the Korakuen Gardens in Okayama.

The first are advertised as a "living Japanese painting" and indeed they were. They are viewing gardens, rather than ones to stroll through. One walked through the museum of art finding numerous points in the journey to stop and take in the perfection and pristine presentation of these wonderful arrangements of trees, moss, water and gravel, finely crafted gateways and borrowed landscapes. I confess to enjoying the gardens a great deal more than the art on the walls!

The following day we visited Okayama Castle. 

Before climbing the hill to the castle itself, we spent far too short a time in the beautiful Korakuen Gardens just below, where we were allowed to stroll, stop and wonder. After an initial query about the lack of green, we were told that the golden brown of the grass was quite normal in early spring, and not the result of a dry winter, simply the way Japanese grass grows. Again, there was such harmony in the arrangement of carefully manicured trees, bridges, lanterns and water. The reflections doubled the pleasure of the view and of course, there were the flickering bodies of gold and silver koi moving beneath the ripples, one rather gorgeous terrapin and the stately, swaying trunks of bamboo. 

All too soon we were called away to visit the castle. A few members stayed in the gardens and I was almost sorry I hadn't done the same. While a marvelous trip, there were too few moments to just stand and reflect, so I am perhaps getting more pleasure from revisiting in my photographs than I did while I was there. I hope you enjoy then too.

spring begins

In amongst the leaves of last year, and the rather soggy soil from recent regular rains, there are signs of pleasure to come in the garden.

I am always surprised and delighted by these little cyclamen, which seem to realise they should stay small beneath one of my slow trees. 

These snowdrops are in quite deep shade, but still are beginning to show their delicate white petals.

while these, nearby but getting more light, have gradually developed into a lovely clump over the past ten years; slow and steady

I love the soft furry leaves and clear colours of pulmonaria, which come in so many shades of blue and pink

Hellebores take time to clump up, but I have high hopes for these in the coming years, especially if they also set seed and bring us more variations on the hellebore theme

The greater periwinkle is only a recent addition, but the flowers are so long lasting and the variegated leaves bring a bit of brightness beneath a camellia

a shy crocus beside some steps

and in the front garden the bright eyes of winter jasmine

the first primroses netting the sunlight

and another clump of snowdrops by the weeping birch, which came from Cecil's garden, so always remind me of her

How is your garden growing?

New Year freshness

I'm not much of one for New Year's resolutions, they always seem to come with intimations of failure in their wake. However, I do try to keep up my resolve during the year to do things. One of those is to walk by the seaside reasonably regularly, for the good of my health and for the good of my inner self. Today our sea was really rather excitable, with the wind whistling so hard across the water that the sturdy railings were buzzing and vibrating in their housings. Great rafts of sea foam were collected, trembling and undulating on the shoreline or blowing across the promenade. 

Definitely no boats, or folk, on the water today

Dogs with their trusty walkers were at serious risk of losing their ears and the sunshine was sparkling in and out of the racing dark clouds.

The seagulls really seemed to be playing joyfully in the buffeting air

Walking in an easterly direction was aided by the following wind, but walking back to the car was very invigorating indeed. I arrived home windswept and freshened and wandered into the sitting room just in time to catch this spot of calmness as our resident woodpecker helped himself to a little lunch.

I expect he has tucked himself away somewhere safe now as the forecast rain is beginning to lash against the windowpanes.