I took these photos last week so things have moved on quite a bit since then. This one is of one of my pieris shrubs, I have a few different varieties. There’s also a small leaved holly and some other things which I’ll have to look out the name tags of as I’ve forgotten what they are. Is it my age?!

This one has a small yew tree which I’m planning on giving a bit of a haircut, if the weather is fine tomorrow. The tulip is one which comes up every year although I didn’t plant it so it must be very old. Any which I have planted quickly disappear for some reason. The small yellow flowers are from a kerria japonica shrub and they are all underneath a rowan tree or mountain ash, if you’re English. In Celtic mythology they are supposed to keep witches away from your home. So far it has worked!

And this is a close up of the apple blossom and quince. The apples are usually quite good and I get enough to make some pies but I’ve been told that the ornamental quince is no use for cooking with as it’s tasteless. Such a shame because I get hundreds of the fruits.

I can only grow tomatoes in a greenhouse and for the last few years the summer weather has been so rotten that they didn’t even thrive in it, so there is no chance of being able to grow any outside in the garden. If you look closely you’ll be able to see some apple blossom and beneath that the orange flowers of the ornamental quince. Unfortunately the pale pink rhododendron is being eaten by vine weevils and the stuff which is meant to kill them off isn’t working. So I’m expecting my poor rhoddy to keel over at any moment. Very annoying because I bought two of the shrubs from Marks and Spencer and they must have been infested with the larvae in their roots. Nothing else in the garden has the problem.

I was hard at it in the garden again today and so many other things are flowering now, bluebells and gentians and lily of the valley. I’ll need to take some more photographs!