The First Breath of Summer

"If your purse no longer bulges 
and you've lost your golden treasure, 
If times you think you're lonely 
and have hungry grown for pleasure, 
Don't sit by your hearth and grumble, 
don't let mind and spirit harden. 
If it's thrills of joy you wish for 
get to work and plant a garden! 

If it's drama that you sigh for, 
plant a garden and you'll get it 
You will know the thrill of battle 
fighting foes that will beset it 
If you long for entertainment and 
for pageantry most glowing, 
Plant a garden and this summer spend 
your time with green things growing."

-  Edgar Guest, Plant a Garden

I simply could not put it better!

Everywhere around me, life is springing into action.  We even have tadpoles in our pond, thanks to our little cousin J who brought some home from nursery school yesterday.  We hope at least a couple will survive.

As the last of the daffodils fade...

The first tulips begin to open. 

The hellebores have flowered for weeks, if not months! Now they too are passing, but I'm happy for them to seed around.

In their wake, Spireae and the clematis I believe to be Blue Dancer start their display. 

The various deciduous ferns around the garden with their otherworldly fronds are unfurling. 

And the vivid colours of hebe Rhubarb and Custard lend a spot of vibrancy to what is rapidly becoming a more green and pleasant landscape. 

There were one or two tasks to take in hand today.  The first was to erect a couple of trellis panels in an attempt to hide our view of the neighbour's orange cabin since they removed a section of hedge, and the fence came up short.

Once I'd disentangled the clematis Montana Rubens and attached it to the new panel, our neighbour decided that the trellis spoilt their side of the fence and looked unacceptable on their side...so we had to lower it so it didn't show....so we have to put up with an unacceptable view of their bloody huge orange shed!  I'm sorry to swear but I'm extremely upset about it.

To take my mind off the awful view we seem to be stuck with, the tunes went on whilst we swapped the smoke bush and red acer's pots over to better suit the plant sizes, down in the Yen Garden where I don't have to look at it.

The old strawberry plants were removed along with one of the rhubarb crowns.  This end of Bumblebee's plot will be planted up again later in the year when my 'project' is complete. 

The mercury reached 28c this afternoon on the terrace.