Saturday 24 April 2021

Spring garden

It's been so nice to see the sunshine this past week. Although it's still a bit chilly in the shade, if you wrap up well (and let's face it, knitters and crocheters are The Best at that!) then it's actually very pleasant sitting in the garden, watching nature as things start to wake up. I love this tree with its glass decorations. The rainbow wishing stick was a souvenir from one of our Cornish holidays and I love to watch it as it twizzles around - it's quite mesmerising. The round blue glass was a gift from one of Mr JK's cousins in Germany. There's an orange one too, just out of shot. The glass star was made by me. I did stained glass a long time ago and enjoyed practising my glass cutting and soldering skills when I made them. There are 5 in total. Three of them are currently sat on my kitchen worktop as they need new thread to attach them to the tree. Perhaps I'll get round to it this weekend! 




This Doronicum is one of the earliest plants to start flowering each year and provides a lovely sunny glow under the tree. I think it's also known as Leopard's Bane, but please correct me if I'm wrong.




How I love bluebells! I have been counting down the days until they started to open up properly. There are a couple of bluebell woods nearby, but at the moment I'm not mobile enough to get to them. But I have my own wonderful bluebells growing so am enjoying them very much.




I'm a bit late taking photos of the blossom on my quince. It does produce quite a bit of fruit each year, but I'm not quite sure what you make with it. I've seen recipes for quince jelly. Have you ever tasted quince? What is it like?




I'm not sure what this plant is, but it's another early flowering plant. If you know, please do tell me. 




Forget me nots are another favourite. I dug up some clumps from the garden of my childhood home when we sold it, and they are everywhere now! I don't mind it at all. I'm not one for formal beds, which is probably just as well! These form a huge carpet in many beds, and I noticed that they are also spreading onto the lawn!




I love how the sun wakes the tulips up each morning. These are positively glowing in the sunshine. We bought these on one of our many trips to Amsterdam, so it's a lovely memory of happy days spent with Mr JK. Hope you've enjoyed the little trip around my garden today. Stay safe and well. xxx



 

5 comments:

Jane Winter said...

What lovely pictures Helen.

The unknown plant is dogs tooth violet. I've got some flowering in my garden for the first time this year: I planted them AGES ago! You are right, Doronicum is known as Leopard's Bane, but mine isn't out yet so I wonder if I have lost it. Having said that, neither is my quince so perhaps you're a bit further ahead than me with the season.

Look after yourself and keep enjoying the lovely sunshine.

Jane

linnellnickerson@gmail.com said...

A lot of people mix Quince with different fruits to make jelly. I've done it with apple. Just follow recipe for the apple jelly, just put half apple, half quince. It's really good !!

VeggieMummy said...

I love your stained glass. I made a glass rainbow strip with a view to hanging it from our cherry tree - 2 years later it's still propped in the kitchen window! :O) I envy you your bluebells too - the deer have eaten all the ones in our back garden. Here's to more sunny days. xx



Jennyff said...

Lovely to see your garden coming back to life, I think we can consider the worst of winter well behind us now. Hopefully weather and pandemic restrictions will continue to improve, spring is such a hopeful time of year. Enjoy your beautiful outdoors.

Christi said...

Your spring flowers are beautiful, so cheerful and bright! I love the glass ornaments on your tree, they must be lovely when the sun shines through them. I love spring, we've had a very dreary winter so I'm looking forward to more sunny days and warmth. Enjoy your beautiful garden!

Love and hugs,
Kim from Canada xxx