Spring is Sprung

“De spring is sprung, de grass is riz.

I wonder where dem boidies is?

They say the boid is on the wing.

But that’s absoid. The wing is on the bird.”

— Anon

Spring has definitely sprung in my garden and yesterday I went for a walk round to see what I could capture - these are not the only flowers in the garden, but rather the one's whose pictures I liked best.

Pasque flowers are one of my favourite spring flowers. They represent such good value, looking great at every stage of their life cycle from the first feathery leaves that push through the bare earth, to the spectacular seed heads. They're even self seeding and I now have three plants instead of two.

Further on down the garden the first clematis is out, a macropelia of some kind I think; the label is long gone

Surprise flower of the day was this marigold. Self-seeded from two years ago I wouldn't expect to see it before June or possibly May at a push. It certainly makes a splash of bright colour now the daffs are over.

Next up its the japonica, a huge bush. I love the way it starts flowering on the bare stems before continuing to flower against the dark green leaves. Its in the transitional phase at present.

Finally I'm going to share with you my favourite photo from the shoot although its definitely not my favourite plant!

The humble dandelion, growing as usual somewhere it shouldn't, with those pesky long roots that are so hard to get out. Really worth clicking on this to enlarge the image and see the detail - I really hadn't expected it to look so pretty close up!

Thats all for today, hope your garden ( if you have one) has similar treasures, I'd love to know what they are!

Back to Berlin next time!

Photo Heart Connection March

“God’s in his Heaven -
Alls alright with the world”

— Robert Browning

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven—
All's right with the world!

Extract from Pippa Passes by Robert Browning

This poem sums up what I feel about this month's Photo Heart Connection. As regular readers of my blog will know I have just returned from a short break in Berlin where we had a fabulous time. There was, however, one defining moment when everything came together to produce a sparking moment of joy and happiness.

I am currently taking James Baraz's course 'Awakening Joy'. A part of this is increasing your ability to recognise and savour joy in the present moment and just such a moment occurred during our trip. We had visited the East Side Gallery of the Berllin Wall ( pictures coming soon) and then stopped for lunch in the Hackescher Markt, a square containing a number of open air cafes and restaurants. We choose one, sat down to peruse the menu and I ordered a glass of Gruner Veltllinger, a wine I really like that not readily available outside Austria and Germany. So we sat there in the warm spring sunshine (you know, the first day when sitting outside is not any kind of ordeal because of the cold wind) in a square full of buzzing happy people and a busker began playing the trumpet (an instrument I love), and I just thought 'It really doesn't get any better then this!'

If its spring again, birds sing again ..........

I suddenly got this tune from my childhood into my head - it's Tulips from Amsterdam sung, if I recall correctly, by Max Bygraves ( just checked it was Max Bygraves). And it led me to reflect on what spring means to me. I think it's the flowers first and foremost, to begin with the aconites and snowdrops, followed by the daffodils and all the flowering trees that have burst on to the scene in the last week.

Even the wild flowers have got going

The second big thing that heralds spring for us is the opening of our tiny place on the Isle of Wight. The first trip of the season is always exciting, checking if there have been any cliff falls and if our favourite shops (especially the fishmonger) are still there. The cliff falls were fairly minor (given the weather we've had) although they were rebuilding some of the beach huts that had been damaged by the storms.

After doing all the chores we went for a drive round - first stop Freshwater Bay where there was a stiff breeze with spray catching the sun over the sea wall

and there was a family having fun laughing at grandpa who was jumping in and out of the waves in his dhoti

Next it was off to Totland where we noticed that this sky above the land was much bluer than the sky above the sea, which was still a bit misty

and there was a fabulous view of the evening sun on the old lifeboat house with the gulls wheeling around it

It was good to be back and breathe in the spring sea air! And just in case you are way too young to have heard this

Welcome February

““The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.””

— Gertrude S Wister

The old rhyme goes 'February fill dykes'. Well in the South of England December and January have done that so we are hoping that February won't make a significant contribution! That said we are beginning to see the first signs of spring. The dogwood though, reminds us that winter is still very much with us

But wait, there are definite signs of spring around, in the shops there are daffodils,

in the garden, snowdrops,

The Christmas Roses - late as usual!

and even a shy very early violet peeping through giving a splash of colour

Last February we went to see the snowdrops at Welford Park, it was a horrible sleety day but somehow magical, so I am reposting the short film I made of that day - enjoy1

Welford Park from Barbara Evans on Vimeo.