1st Splash of Colour

I know Spring has well and truly arrived

when the garden is popping with yellows and purple.

The back of our house has sun all day and is sheltered 

from the severe frost we've had this winter.

Even when it's cold if the sun is shining this is where we sit.

Making plans for what we need to do in the garden.

The garden was neglected last year due to my back problems and 

now Mr France has recently had surgery on one of his knees

we make sure we both stop for a rest.

Mr France and I have been busy in the garden today.

We knew that the arbour needed a repair job. However when 

we cut back the old Honeysuckle, we found it was past repair. 

So it's gone and will be replaced with a new one.

I'll show you later when the new one is in and we have been to 

our local ' pépiniériste '  and chosen some new climbers. 

I've managed to save a few long strands of Honeysuckle. I'm hoping 

they will throw out some new shoots & will mix in with the new climbers.

Not sure yet what to replace the old ones with.

I think I'll take a look at my rose book.

Any ideas Shane you are a rose expert, if you don't know Shane 

take a look a her lovely blog, her Roses are beautiful.

I've tidied up my potting bench.

and added a few more hanging baskets planted with miniature daffodils.

I have three hanging baskets full of dwarf daffodils.

All of these bulbs had been stored in a box in the shed 

 for two years and forgotten about. 

I planted them in this basket to see if they would flower

and they are as good as the new ones.

I cut a few flowers and brought some inside.

No fancy arrangement just popped them in a small glass tumbler

and placed them on the dining table,

I know they won't last long, but they look pretty.

These other Daffodils have been in the grass for a long time.

I notice over the past few years, there are fewer blooms.

We have an abundance of voles so I think they must be eating the bulbs.

After a beautiful weekend of warm sun,

this is the first pale yellow one to come out in bloom this afternoon. 

I don't know variety, but the trumpet has a frilly look about it.

 These are new bulbs planted in Autumn under an old apple tree

 by Mr France , he planted the whole bag in a small area.

  so they will look much nicer in a few more days, when they are all in bloom.

In Autumn I planted a few  Crocus bulbs in a basket,take a look here

Now I can move it around to give a splash of colour where I want it.

By mid morning the flowers have opened 

and

 the Bumble Bees have already been visiting. 

Another Bumble Bee  collecting pollen.

My grandson took this photo on his phone yesterday.

and sent it to me last night.

I hope you enjoyed your time in my garden.

This is where I'll be spending my time.

Come back again soon

there will be lots more to see .

Thank you for visiting 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

Guess what I'm Waiting for ....?









 

 

Yes  Spring.

A few days more of sunshine and we should have some more signs of Spring.

 





 

I love the formation of the petals on pansies.

When I first started  watercolour painting I enjoyed learning the technic



of  wet on wet watercolour painting and painted several pictures of pansies.

I gave each one as gifts to friends and family. At that time I didn't take photos of my paintings.

 



 

A few little spring flowers in an eggcup.

 

 

After last weeks cold frosty mornings it was a pleasure

to walk around  the garden today in the sunshine

it thrilled me to see lots of new growth,

This vintage egg basket is full of cones with Sedum growing through them.
 

 

Bright red shoots on the Photinia ( Red Robin )

 

 

and the catkins or what we call lambs tails on the Hazel trees.

 





  .

The birds are flitting about singing their courting songs.

Then I found a discarded blackbirds nest from last year.

 



 

 These Sempervivums always survive the cold frosts.
Some will die off but I always manage to keep enough to

 replant them in small terracotta pots. Then I can move them around

to fill in an empty space while waiting for plants to resurface after the winter.

 

 

 

I see lots of my followers are still having snow storms.
How are you feeling ?
You must be more impatient waiting for Spring.
 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

Roses & a few paintings from my sketch book

 

Since the treatment I had for my back problem

I haven't been very active on my blog.

and now I finally need to have surgery.

Which has made me turn to my favourite things.
My garden , which as I previously mentioned

 is having to look after itself.

But somehow it's not looking too bad.
 

I've just picked out a few photos I took of the pretty pink rose.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been sketching in my new sketch journals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every year these poppies bloom in my daughters garden.

I love the big flower, but unfortunately they don't last very long 

so they were a must to paint .

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Montana Clematis is in full bloom & climbing everywhere, 

 except the ones I planted to grow up onto my pergola.

for some reason they didn't like where I'd put them.

so I took a photo of some in a friends garden .

 

Then quickly sketched this into my garden sketchbook.

 

 

 

 

This was  a sprig of Lilac  which I stole from my daughters garden

I find it doesn't seem to last very long in a vase.
  

 I painted this on the hand made paper I was given

I  struggled at first using this type of paper

but now I think I'm liking the different technique I have to use.

I glued it in my sketch book.

 

 

 

 

I would like to Thank all

 my blogging friends who take the time to look at what I share,
especially those who have sent me get well wishes.
 

I'll be away for awhile.

But I will be reading my favourite blogs

even if I don't make any comments.

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 



Leaving my garden to look after itself.

Not done intentionally , but sometimes things have to happen that way.

I'm back after my stay in hospital, having treatment on my back.

Although not completely sorted due to a little hiccough with my blood pressure,

which on the last day of my treatment decided to shoot sky high,

which meant I was unable to complete the full treatment,

 and will have to go back in a months time.

It is greatly improved, but I still can't do any gardening for awhile.

 

 

  

Fortunately his basket was planted up some time ago
so we did have a few nice things to see
 Tete a Tete daffodils
 

 

 

 

 

So regretfully I'll have to leave things to Mr France.

Gardening is not his thing.
 Not so very long ago he couldn't tell a weed from a cherished plant.
He does all the hard ground work and I do the planting.

I'll be giving advice and asking him just to do the most important things.
 

My big new flower bed will not happen this year.

 

At the moment it's looking like this.

 

  

 

But it's not important.

I'm thinking when the soil is levelled off, I'll just lightly rake in some seeds
which were gathered last year and hope for the best.
 

This is what they looked like last year when my niece collected them for me,
 it's where we go on one our favourite walks.

 

 

Our communes have been sowing wild flower seeds en-mass in certain areas for the past few years.  

They're left to grow on their own amongst the grass with no attention what so ever .

 but look so pretty, and as my garden is on the rustic side in places

I think they should fit in quite nicely.

 

 

 

This is the view from the front of our house.
 

Shall we start with the potting bench, where most of the preparation  begins.
 

 

 

Trailing Fuchsias which we over wintered indoors, coming along nicely

 

 

 

 

 

 Something I could do was watch & nurture
some of the cuttings growing, that I took back in September.

So what's been happening around the garden, naturally and unassisted?

I'll take you on a tour showing the good the bad & the ugly.

 

Work in progress, hopefully this will get finished.
Mr France loves to build rustic stone walls,
 using the stones left over from the renovation he did when we bought this old ruin 20 yrs. ago.

 

 

These Tete a Tete miniature daffodils are new

 they were planted last year in the work in progress new bank area.

 

 

Muscari  bulbs in bloom planted last year.

Two different varieties. 

 

 

and the ones in the trough appear every year

a little on the small side due to neglect, put a pretty blue.

 

 

 

These big blousey Tulips were planted here by my Danish daughter in law

over 15 years ago. They come up every year, but this year I think this is the best they have looked.

Maybe they put on a special show for me, to cheer me up for when I came home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No seeds have been sown this year, I will be buying trays of plants this summer.  

 

Some trays of summer plants already bought for the window boxes & baskets.

This year not as many as usual.

Could be a sitting down job next week.

 

 

 

 

 



 



 

 

Hopefully, slow but sure I'll be back to my old self soon

doing what I love best

 pottering about in my garden.

 

Before I went into hospital I bought myself a new Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook.

so while I was passing the hours in hospital I did some water colour sketches.

I'll show you some I did later in the week.

 

and maybe work in my garden will have progressed.

 

 

Thank you to all my friends who have sent me their kind wishes for my speedy recovery.

Some of you are also suffering with back problems, so I hope things are improving for you too.

 

 Even if I didn't leave comments on the usual blogs I follow I've loved reading your posts,

 keeping up to date with some of the things you've all been doing.

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian

 

 

 

I suddenly realised it's March which means it's nearly Spring.

 

 

 

Usually I've been out in my garden 

 peeping in all the areas I know something should be showing signs of Spring.

But not feeling like or being able to do any work in the garden as

we had some nice sunshine today I took a stroll around and I wasn't disappointed.

 I found quite a few flowers.

These Pansies have been in flower all winter,

not as healthy looking as they should be.

also it looks like my Lavender cuttings are looking OK

strange as they don't like to be wet.

 

 

 

These Primula are always the first to flower.

just a few popping up here & there in the grass.

 

I didn't see any Crocus that were in the same area last year,

maybe they've rotted with all the rain we've had this winter.

  I know we have Voles that burrow under the surface of the ground

So I'd prefer it if they'd been eaten by them, it must be hard finding food.

This is another pot that I'd forgotten about, with more Pansies.

This will get moved around to brighten up an area that needs a bit of colour.

 



 

 

A large shrub of  Japonica.

Which flowers before the leaves appear.
It really should have had a good pruning.

 

 

 

 

I always bring a piece into the house to open up before they do on the shrub.

 

 

 

 

I hope these few flowers I found in my garden

brought Spring a little nearer to all my friends who are still getting snow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

à bientôt

Barbara Lilian