Say cheese.

Does this robin look happy? Is he almost posing? Almost saying "thank you"

Today decided to sort out my patio tubs ready for spring. The plants in two of the tubs had completely disappeared. This filled me with dread as my first thought was vine weevil. The grubs eat the roots of plants and eventually kill them. I got a plastic sheet and emptied the soil on to it. Low and behold there were hundreds of vine weevil grubs. Horror of horrors, Don't panic. What shall I do. Decided to drag the sheet onto the lawn and let the blue tits and the robins have a delicious supper, to prepare them for another cold night. You have never seen such a free for all, there were fights and swooping and everyone calling their friends. When the frenzy was over I checked the soil and couldn't find any. The soil has been disposed of and now its the waiting game to see if there are any more around. Anyway back to the robin, I went to walk indoors and there he was. "Come on, do you want a photo for your blog or not?" Rushed indoors got the camera and hey presto. Isn't he a stunner.

Mother nature can be so cruel.

The frost last night was severe as predicted. All of the plants with sappy growth ended up like this Dicentra (bleeding hearts). All the blooms on the Berberis were damaged, so no berries for the birds this year on those. I could go on, but I am not going to. Of now to sort out what I can and pray that it will be a better night tonight. The photo on the header today is the Dicentra before the frost hit it.

A little bit of sunshine.

The sun came out this afternoon. We are going to have a frost tonight. Decided to walk the garden to see what might be vulnerable, not that I can do much to stop it. Nature has the upperhand. There is virgin leaf on the Hawthorn. The crab and ornamental apple are in bud. The dicentra that I have netted (because the rabbits love them) has done really well. You are definately not having this one bunny!!! Finally the Berberis Darwinii is in full flower and looking very pretty. I wonder what will happen overnight??? Enlarge the ornamental apple photograph and you will see two insects sitting on top of the buds.

Spring flowers.

Quote of the day:


If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.

Hedgehogs.

There are signs that the hedgehogs are around,

droppings are in the small wood. I have started feeding

them, and leaving water out. This photograph was

taken during the day a few years ago. The hedgehog

had woken up too early because it was unseasonally

warm. They are nocturnal creatures, so I was lucky

to be so close to one. They are the gardeners best

friend, eating lots of snails and slugs. I love the hedgehog, I am hoping they will

breed here this year. They did around four years ago. There were 2 hoglets, only

one survived.

The snow has arrived, nothing too bad at the moment, but it is bitterly cold.

Colour and Bumble Bees.

In a study last year it was proved that bumble bees are drawn to lilac and purple flowers more than any other. The two photos taken today are of Cerinthe Major Purpurea. I normally put my seeds in around now, straight into the soil where they are to flower. These two little flowers are seeds from last year plants and have popped up early to please me and the bees. The header today is of course the glorious Verbena Bonariensis, and as you can see a bee is enjoying the plant as much as I do. Both the plants today are drought tolerant, the blooms will last all summer, and for me the best thing is rabbits HATE both. There are many beautiful lilac and purple flowered plants.......lavender, our native meadow cranesbill and catmint, to name but a few. If you want the buzz of bees this year why not plant some. Beckie at Dragonfly Corner will have some Cerinthe this year as I sent her some seeds. Enjoy Beckie. A good weekend to you all.

Mason Bees

As you can see from the photograph taken today the tubes are still sealed. The bees are not ready to come out yet. It is quite a lengthy performance for them to get out. There are approx 5 - 10 bees to a tube. Each grub has its own space filled with pollen and sealed with mud. When the bee at the back wakes up it will chew through the mud and bite the bottom of the bee in front to wake it up. I jest not. This works right the way through the tube until the one at the front wakes up, chews thru the mud and every bee in that tube is free. Its a little bit like an escape from prison!

I am a little worried for these bees and it has been lovely and warm, so there will be stirrings in the tubes. We are expecting an extreme drop in temperature here and possible snow at the weekend. I will cover them if necessary, I have never had to do this before, so havn't decided what with yet. Hopefully they will all be okay. As soon as they come out I will try to photograph them.

Have a great weekend.

Daffodils and ladybirds.

The daffs you see in the photos I planted inthe autumn last year. They have come into bloom today. I love white flowers, so pure white daffs seemed like a good choice, I love them. The one with the pink tinge is also beautiful. When I bought them I thought what have you done, pink daffodils, no not a good idea. But hey, I think they are pretty gorgeous. Got an opinion I would love to hear it.
Also saw a ladybird today, every gardeners friend.

Spent several hours at my parents today landscaping their garden. My Dad worked with me, he is 81. Watching him I suddenly realised how old he had got. My Dad has always been my rock, a strong man, a protective father. I did the heavy work today, he could not do it anymore. Thats fine, I am happy to do that, but I must say I drove home and felt a little sad.

Everything is popping out of the soil.

Now I have cleared a lot of the weeds from the beds it was good to see so many plants popping up. Lupins at the moment look good and the slugs have left them alone....I think I have the song thrush to thank for that. The bleeding hearts are up but I don't give them much hope as they are rabbit food. Cardoons (the favourtie of bees and me) are coming up big time and lastly the day lillies have produced several huge clumps around the garden. Of course they look good now but with gardening you can never take things for granted. By the way does anyone else just love the smell of lupins....always reminds me of black pepper, Lovely

The sun shone.

Today has been one of those days that was perfect. Nothing life changing just gently perfect. The sun came out, not hot, not cold, just a nice sort of warm. I decided to pull some of the weeds out of the borders. As if by magic everything around me seemed happy. A beautiful peacock butterfly settled not far from me, a male chaffinch called to his sweetheart, and to top it all a charm of goldfinch visited. The day ended with a lovely sunset, and I felt very happy with my world.

Quote: Heaven is a little closer as the sun sets on my garden.