Extended Easter

Chumsie the Easter chicken manged to arrive in the Artful Garden in time for Easter. She is now perched in a basket on a table in the middle of the lawn. We have had strong east winds and she has stayed in place.

Chumsie looking cute

Baby Doll also got an Easter bonnet and a bright pink feather boa, very stylish.

Love the hat

I helped with the Easter flower arrangements in church.

Yellows and creams

Dark green foliage offsets the flowers

The countryside is a hive of activity. Farmers are ploughing their fields.

Looking like corduroy

New life is being born.

A bonny calf just a few days old

Along the lanes are corridors of white blackthorn blossom.

Frothy blackthorn blossom

My beech hedge is now fully into leaf in just a week.

Covered in bright fresh leaves

The cherry blossom is a mass of pink candyfloss.

Pretty in pink

The bluebells are just beginning to flower.

Bluebells and forgetmenots

The flowers are forming on the gooseberry bushes and I have put cardboard at the base of the plants to try to prevent gooseberry sawfly.

Tiny gooseberries are beginning to form

The purple aubreita is looking very vibrant.

Looking lovely cascading down the wall

The red rhododendron in my home garden is in flower, it is susceptible to frost.

Red bonnets

The sunshine opens the tulip flowers with some spectacular results.

Delicate beauty

I have made last years dead sunflowers into a sculpture in front of the damson tree.

Space age sun seekers

Mrs Woody is very proud of how her sink garden which is looking very picturesque.

Do you like my garden?

We have had some warm sunny days but for two days we had the Helm wind. The wind forms a bar across the Pennine hills.

The helm wind is a very wild cold east wind

I am making some new bumblebees and ladybirds. The Bottle Boys and Babes are at the health farm for cosmetic surgery.

Buzzing around

I have been digging a long border in the orchard. There were masses of very large stones to clear away. I have sown wild flower seeds.

There have been several walking groups passing the Artful Garden. It has been described as 'wonderful' and a 'work of love'.