Pause and Breathe

A burgeoning of spring flowers

Dear friends,

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to be here — a rather enforced break due to extended illness and busyness, with days so full of tasks at the moment I’ve had to give myself permission to take an hour to be present online and catch up a little! I’m happy to be able to share just a few images of the wonderful flowers which have been around recently. There is real warmth in the air now on some days, and as one lovely plant finishes blooming, another takes its place, a delightful unfurling of new beauty almost daily.

Burgeoning is such a great word to describe what is happening at the moment in the plant world, definitions include: growing, expanding, rapidly developing, and my favourite — flourishing.

One of my enduring spring obsessions is with the amazingly patterned snake’s-head fritillaries which have, over many years, made themselves a very happy home under our tiny apple tree.

These have all self-seeded from about twenty bulbs and clearly appreciate being exactly here! If they are not happy somewhere they just refuse to settle, but if you like them and have a garden it’s well worth trying a few bulbs in different places, as once the soil and situation are right they multiply joyfully.

I can see the whole patch wafting in the breeze from the kitchen, and they always bring delight with their delicate arching stems and beautiful, chequered bell-like flowers.

The recent strong breezes have taken many petals away now, but here they are in all their recent glory, accompanied by very talkative birds:

Other lovely things to see have been pink Clematis alpina winding its way up and into the silver birch tree, and the most beautiful, nodding pure white flowers of Summer snowflake, Leucojum aestivum, which rise above the still-emerging greenery in the borders and waft elegantly in the breeze.
They have been joined by Lady’s Smock (also called Cuckoo Flower), the palest of daffodils called Narcissus ‘Jenny’, and a carpet of primroses and bright sky-blue Brunnera flowers growing together under the trees,

A final favourite is these lovely anemones — they are the most beautiful shade of lilac and are called Anemone nemorosa 'Robinsoniana’

I am definitely in need of some pausing and breathing as we are less than two weeks away now from our son’s wedding, with much still to do! In what feel like quite frantic days of flower arranging, vase cleaning and many other tasks, I have found it easy to be carried along by relentless, stressful thoughts of how much needs attention, so am forming a habit of a daily guided 10 minute meditation to bring some degree of stillness into the day! It may be that you, too, need a gentle reminder to re-introduce a helpful practice into your days.

Do let me know what beautiful flowers you are seeing at the moment, and if you have a favourite.

I’ll leave you with one more fritillary and birdsong video, (you might hear the blackbird at the end), and hope to be back again after the wedding and a rest!

Lou xx