Wednesday 19 March 2014

Spring forward


Having bought a container at a charity shop for a flower arrangement, imagine my surprise and delight to discover it contained dormant bulbs in dried out compost.

The bulbs, replanted in fresh compost and placed in the porch, became beautiful, fragrant hyacinths to greet our arrival home.

The Rainbow Allotment, where I am a volunteer, is beginning to flourish – but so are the weeds.

This month’s flower arrangement was entitled Winter into Spring
 My arrangement

 


At the gardening club, we had a most enjoyable and informative illustrated talk on Spring and Autumn in Japan.  Who could be more suited to give this talk than Ian Richardson as a frequent visitor, photographer and chrysanthemum enthusiast to tell us about the culture, architecture and plant life?   The cherry blossoms and acers of all colours looked absolutely stunning.

The new season has begun at the coast where the winter has taken its toll and quite a few metres have been lost to the sea through erosion.  The bad news was that the hedging of willowy type trees have been removed from the back of the caravan leaving us more exposed to the wind and giving us less privacy.  However, the good news is that the garden is twice as big and the shade-loving plants may not be needed.  Perhaps the shrubs will revive but I see no sign of it as yet.

The long-awaited Spring presents both opportunity and challenge which is exciting, but the main growing season arrives at such velocity and vitality that it can take you unawares.

I can see from fellow bloggers that you also have projects earmarked.  Looking forward to seeing the results.

8 comments:

  1. So beautiful! Spring over here has arrived much earlier than last year, and our winter was much milder, so that there is already quite an abundance of flowers on the ground and blossoms on the trees. It is wonderful to see, and I wish we could have mild winters and early springs like that every year.

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    Replies
    1. Last year at this time, we had thick snow. Wetter winters and hotter summers are being forecast.

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  2. Lovely arrangements and what a bonus to get those hyacinths.

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  3. It is great to spring bouquets from the garden indoors and I think your arrangement gets the balance just right - nice work :-)

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  4. Just noticed my hyacinths are flowering outside in my front garden. Although a little sparse this year, looks as if I may have lost a few. They are quite lovely though aren't they? You were indeed lucky to find them.

    Those arrangements are lovely too.

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  5. I just love their perfume although I know some find it overpowering.

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