Spring is...

Roses with a golden heart;

azure blue and woolly lambs;

Dendrobium Orchids, they brighten any dull spot in the garden;

Lavender enjoyed by anyone;

earlier daylight; rosy, soft and dew laden, morning creeps in between the trees;

Orange blossoms scenting the garden sweetly;

The orange blossom, which is the state flower of Florida, is traditionally associated with good fortune, and was popular in bridal bouquets and head wreaths for weddings for some time. The petals of orange blossom can also be made into a delicately citrus-scented version of rosewater. Orange blossom water is a common part of Middle Eastern cuisine. The orange blossom gives its touristic nickname to the Costa del Azahar ("Orange-blossom coast"), the Castellon seaboard.
In Spain, fallen blossoms are dried and then used to make tea.
Orange blossom honey, or actually citrus honey, is produced by putting beehives in the citrus groves during bloom, which also pollinates seeded citrus varieties. Orange blossom honey is highly prized, and tastes much like orange.

Lettuce growing quickly in the warm spring sun;

Garlic planted in late autumn is making bulbs;

Leek growing slowly over winter will fill out rapidly.

A new basket for the donkey ear; Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri; those leaves can grow to 50 cm long; its flowers dusky pink bells. I like this plant a lot it is very attractive in every sense.

a dainty Abutilon megapotamicum;

Azalea shy Bettina;

Lavender Sidonie; easy to propagate; break one of the side shoots with a little heel and plant in a seed rising mixture or in the garden.

Australian LavenderOrigin: Hybrid lavender originating in Australia, the seed parent being Lavandula pinnata.

my lovely no name climbing rose, very thorny and very vigorous, no diseases at all.

voluptuous reds; Hippeastrums from seed;

a blue sky and palms mirrored in a clean pond;

the first daylilies, twins golden girls;

a flowering present from my daughter J. Many years ago she gave me a handful of freesia corms, every spring they light up all over the garden.

a tangled mess of the climber Horsefallia....more than ready to be pruned!

dainty faces, Viola tricolor, Heartsease has a large number of alternative colloquial names, up to two hundred.

As its name implies, Heartsease has a long history of use in herbalism. It has been recommended, among other uses, as a treatment for epilepsy, asthma, skin diseases and eczema. It has expectorant properties, and so has been used in the treatment of chest complaints such as bronchitis and whooping cough. It is also a diuretic, leading to its use in treating rheumatism and cystitis.
The flowers have also been used to make yellow, green and blue-green dyes, while the leaves can be used to make a chemical indicator.
Long before cultivated pansies were developed, Heartsease was associated with thought in the "language of flowers", often by its alternative name of pansy (from the French "pensée" - thought): hence Ophelia's often quoted line in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "There's pansies, that's for thoughts". What Shakespeare had in mind was Heartsease; not a modern garden pansy.








Believe it or not:
Onion skins very thin, mild winter coming in;
Onion skins thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough. Traditional