Spring took the hint…

Yesterday I was complaining that spring just didn’t seem to want to arrive this year; well, after a night and morning of rain, in the afternoon we had some pleasant sunshine and balmy zephyrs, and low and behold, some flowers have started to appear in our garden. we have such clay soil that even though we layer it in compost year after year it is still claggy and unresponsive there are certain things that love it though, raspberries go crazy each year with very little attention, but rhubarb remains sullenly green and sour.

These last eight months have been so wet, that the garden has had little attention from us at all; the lawn has been sodden, the beds almost swimming so we’ve just left it… but at last, a little bit of colour is showing. Hurrah!

Some little daffodils growing at the foot of the mystery tree; it has evergreen leaves, black flowers and black fruit. Behind the daffs is some cuckoo pint, it's a weed and very poisonous, but the lush green leaves give a bit of welcome colour. I'll chop it out later but it will return next year. — Some little daffodils growing at the foot of the mystery tree; it has evergreen leaves, black flowers and black fruit. Behind the daffs is some cuckoo pint, it’s a weed and very poisonous, but the lush green leaves give a bit of welcome colour. I’ll chop it out later but it will return next year.

Japonica, ornamental quince; perhaps the flowers will give us some fruit this year… we din’t have any last summer. weaving through the shrub is periwinkle, with its cheerful blue flowers and variegated leaves.