Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, April 2015

The promise of blooms to come...

and to come..

and arrived.

Magnolia x soulangean

Tulips always play a part in our spring garden, usually gown in pots.

Helmar

Passionale

In the oriental garden the two young Camellias are in full bloom, the pink one is lost label and the red one, a gift, is 'Ruby Wedding'. The Magnolia 'stellata'... 

...is the star of the show...

...the Chaenomeles japonica is a colourful contrast to the black bamboo.

The Pulsatilla vulgaris and Aubrieta 'Bressingham Red' are brightening up the Alpine Boxes...

...along with Phlox 'Red Admiral'.

A late daffodil in the White and Green garden.

Blossom of the Ribes sanguineum, some people do not like the scent...

...then you should smell this!

Fritillaria 'William Rex'

Could you 'Honest(l)y' have a more attractive flower at this time of year...

...than  Lunaria annua 'Rosemary Verey' with its lovely purple leaves.

A Brassen Hussey among the primroses.

Ranunculus 'Brassen Hussey'
A Christopher Lloyd discovery.

A Hoverfly enjoying the spring sunshine on the Brunnera macrophylla.

We recently visited the Cotswold & District Alpine show and I couldn't resist...

Trillium chloropetalum

Could you?   

To visit more Garden Bloggers Bloom Day click on the link Here

Click on any photo to create a 'Blooming' slide show.

Tree following April.

The buds on the Acer negundo Flamingo that I have chosen for the tree following meme has just started to open revealing the white edge with a hint of pink...

A tantalising glimpse of Flamingo!


The answer to last months ' Guess the Bark' photo..

...it is the bark of a Yew tree in NT Croome Park.


Tree bark is, I think, a fascinating subject to photograph.
This photo is of a tree you would expect to see growing in a Capability Brown Landscape...

?

If you think you know please leave your answer in the comment box.

To visit other blogs Tree following click on the link to Lucy Corrander's Blog Loose & Leafy http://looseandleafy.blogspot.co.uk

The Lent Lily.

The Lent Lily.

by A. E. Housman (1859-1936)

'Tis spring; come out to ramble

The hilly brakes around,
For under thorn and bramble
About the hollow ground
The primroses are found.

And there's the windflower chilly
With all the winds at play,
And there's the Lenten lily
That has not long to stay
And dies on Easter day.

And since till girls go maying
You find the primrose still,
And find the windflower playing
With every wind at will,
But not the daffodil,

Bring baskets now, and sally
Upon the spring's array,
And bear from hill and valley
The daffodil away
That dies on Easter day.

'Tete-a-Tete'

'Jumblie'

 'Jumblie'

'King Alfred'

Narcissus poetics recurvus.

Narcissus poetics recurvus, still to look forward to in the garden.

The wild daffodil, the National flower of Wales and the county flower in our neighbouring Gloucestershire, is smaller than the garden cultivars and often referred to as the Lent lily because of when it flowers.  They flower from around mid-March through to April.

Wild daffodils, or Narcissus pseudonarcissus, were once a common sight in England, but the ploughing of meadow land during the war years and use of chemicals has led to them becoming less common. In Gloucestershire, around the villages of Dymock, Kempley and Oxenhall close to the Herefordshire border, wild daffodils once carpeted the meadows, orchards and woods. 

Walks along The Daffodil Way and other events are organised by these villages to celebrate the Daffodil.
This area is known as the Golden Triangle.

 In the words of Lascelles Abercrombie:

From Marcle Way,
From Dymock, Kempley, Newent, Bromesberrow,
Redmarley, all the meadowland daffodils seem
Running in golden tide to Ryton Firs,
To make the knot of steep little wooded hills
Their brightest show

The local people use to pick the daffodils and send them by train to sell in the London flower markets.

The Ledbury poet John Masefield wrote:

And there the pickers come, picking for town
Those dancing daffodils; all day they pick;
Hard-featured women, weather-beaten brown,
Or swarthy-red, the colour of old brick.

I hope you have enjoyed the Lent Lily wherever you have seen it growing.
Happy Easter.

Please click on any photo to create a slide show.