In our May garden
After a couple of days when a chill wind blew through here, the sun came out this morning and I went out shopping without a coat for the first time this year!
Earlier in the week, I had ventured out into the garden with the specific purpose of gathering a small bunch of lily of the valley flowers to celebrate my Mum’s birthday. The plant came from her garden and can be relied upon to be in bloom for the 6th May, as indeed they were. That small bunch exudes such a powerful scent, it never fails to disappoint. She’d have been 101 this year, the same age as m-i-l Bettine.
Whereas I had to go and find the small lily of the valley plant, a rather more spectacular bloom was beckoning me to come, take a photograph this morning. There are three or four iris flowers in the border right now, with another ten or a dozen in bud and about to open in the next few days. That deep, rich purple and the delicate markings on the inner petals is magical and I love them.
Close by, under cover of the small ornamental pear tree, a smaller, less showy plant was putting on a little display of its own and a small constellation of stars was there to catch my eye.
We have a few variations of this cornflower in the garden, and this one is perhaps my favourite because of the way it catches the light.
The blue one, just across in another border is a fabulous colour but somehow is a bit more scruffy!
Making my way back indoors, where a cup of tea was waiting on the kitchen table, I stopped by the pond to look for any signs of life. Might there be newts? Sadly not…but I watched the waterboatmen on the surface for a while until someone else caught my eye as it flew past and landed just in front of me.
Not one, but two …errrrrm….?damselflies? I wasn’t really sure what they were but was so happy they stayed put for long enough for me to snap a photograph (and to do whatever it was they had to do!) I came inside and used Google Lens what I had just seen…
How fulfilling was that? I spent ten minutes in the garden, took a few photos and came back inside to learn about what I’d seen.
And enjoyed a cup of tea, of course!
