Flower Power

The weather this week has been April showers in May, warm and sunny then a quick rain shower that makes me either rush to shelter in the summerhouse or have raindrops falling on my head. I have planted out all year round cauliflower, rainbow chard, perpetual spinach and red lettuce bowl, the warmth and rain should encourage growth.

Last week I went to Acorn Bank near Culgaith in Cumbria. The are famous for their Apple Day in Autumn and they have some lovely orchards.

Acorn Bank orchard

This is a beautiful Japanese quince flower situated in the walled garden.

Japanese quince, the petals look as if they have been painted

This oak tree has stood here in this field at Acorn Bank for 500 years.

What stories this tree could tell

The tree is partly hollow but is still alive.

You can climb inside the gap

This flower I found in the herb garden, what an amazing construction.

Herb Paris

Primroses covered the river banks at Acorn Bank.

Wild Primroses

At one time I had lots of lily of the valley in my home garden. They have an exquisite perfume.

Lilly of the Valley, highly perfumed white bells

We have a lovely small red rhododendron in the home garden. It flowers now so it is always debatable if it will survive. We are still lighting the heater in the greenhouse as temperatures are dropping at night to 4C and below. 

Rhododendron

There are lots of birds, robins, thrushes, blackbirds and finches flying around my garden with worms in their beaks. Walking into my garden shed today I was greeted by a mistle thrush fledgling and as I turned around I saw that there were actually 2 little birds. Still too young to fly as their tail feathers have not formed. Their nest in on a shelf at the bottom corner of the shed and the mother bird must get in through a gap in the tin roof.

Mistle Thrush

I have been making a wall hanging for a friend. The background fabric is linen which I dyed in the washing machine and the flowers are made from mainly silk which I have hand dyed. It is to hang in my friend's kitchen. 

My wall hanging

Wall hanging Flower detail 

After a hard day in the garden