Daffodils and Dried Flowers

There has been mixed weather this week, sunshine rain and strong winds but still opportunities to garden. I have now got my home garden ship shape and have started clearing the flowerbeds in the Artful Garden. I am waiting for the opportunity to transplant some forgetmenots and sweet williams which I hope to be able to do in the next few days.

New shoots begining to form

The red currant bush is now in full flower.

Bunches of grape like blossom

Crocuses look beautiful when they form a carpet a colour.

Classic blue and white

The daffodils are now in flower and there is a lovely range of colours and hues.

Daffodils against the barn wall

Daffodils in the Artful Garden

This beautiful Easter cross is in the graveyard of St Oswald's church in Kirkoswald.

Simplicity

I love primroses and they are just beginning to stretch their necks towards the sun.

Golden tips

Ballet skirt flowers

I am growing this cardoon as I love the silver pointed leaves.

Also I like the architectural qualities of this plant

I have made some dried flower posies from the flowers I grew in the Artful Garden last year.

Pinks and reds

Yellows and blues

Golden hues

Reds and purple

Pretty in pink

Autumnal shades

Golds

This pretty market cross was in Melbourne in Derbyshire.

A beautiful spire and pretty barge boards on the houses

Spring has Sprung

At last we have had several days of warm sunshine and everything in the garden has grown like crazy. Some mornings there has been a thick mist but this has soon burnt away to reveal warm weather and blue sky. Such a welcome after all ther rain and grey skies.

I saw my first local spring lambs this week in a field on the way to Melmerby.

Spring has arrived

The grape hyacinths are now starting to come into flower. Soon they will form a carpet in my front flower beds.

These bonny blue flowers will grow in any nook or cranny

These royal blue iris are in a pot near my patio doors.

Blue beauty

The primulas are begining to show their heads.

Purple pom pom

I have taken every opportunity of the warm weather to garden. I have been weeding the flower beds and clearing the old debris. As I was weeding I dug up a frog. It was still in hibernation, so I quickly took a photo and then covered it with soil. It was quite a surprise, but at least with it being still it did not make me jump.

A frog he would a snoozing go

I have planted my first seeds and put them in the greenhouse. We are getting frosts at night after the warm sunny days.

Flowers and vegetable seeds

There is still snow on the hills that can be enhanced by the colour of the sky.

Looking towards the Lakeland hills on the way up Hartside

Moody sky and snowy hill tops

This is the bleak landscape looking towards Cross Fell from the Alston side of Hartside.

Bleak and mysterious

This boundary stone is on the road to Hartside near the Renwick junction.

I love the lichen that has aged the stone

The streams on Hartside are still full flood.

A rugged landscape

It is my middle daughters 30 birthday so I have made her a special card. It includes a poem written by her Dad and photos of herself growing up. I make these cards for special birthdays and occasions.

Happy Birthday

Pottery and Planning

The days are lengthening and it is now after 6pm before it gets dark. The starlings that only a few weeks ago were swarming at 4pm are now doing their dance around dusk.

This week we have had some fine days. This has allowed me time in between making pottery to do some weeding in the Artful Garden. I have now weeded the veg patch and have prepared a hole in the orchard to plant a James Grieve dessert apple tree.

I have been reviewing my seeds and had a trip to Carlisle to buy some more and I have also ordered some seeds. I love looking through seed catalogues and choosing new varieties, mainly annuals. I have bought some new staging for the greenhouse and a large bag of compost. Sowing seeds will start next week.

The beautiful container for the seeds was given to me as a present

These pretty creamy yellow crocus always come into full flower on a sunny day.

Cream with a yellow centre classic Spring colours

 Some plants are determined to flower even when the odds are against them.

Pot crocus

The daffodils are beginning to flower.

Daffodils just busting into flower

These pretty 'tete a tete' daffodils are in the border in my home garden. 

Bonny blooms

The red currant is coming into flower. It has a very evocative perfume when you rub the leaves.

The flowers look like bunches of red grapes

Here are some more of my pottery houses on a woodland theme.

Rustic and floral

Blue Mood

Foxglove Villa

The butterflies are designed to be on bamboo canes in the garden.

Moss green

Rosy Glow

Yellow Cornfield

Floral Blue

These geese are in the fields along the River Eden. Some of them stay over the summer to breed.

A gaggle of geese

Goosey goosey gander

Charlie Barley felt that he was missing out as a fashion icon in the Artful Garden. Being a man of limited means he bought a one size fits all poncho. Unfortunately he is not of average size and the poncho is little more than a neck scarf.

Yellow Peril

I have been making some birthday cards this week. This is the card I made for my husband.

The card represents my husbands hobbies, characteristics and favourite foods