Short walk with bluebells…

Finally had a short walk today! We went to Cherished Chimneys which is a shop that sells chimneys and pottery at Longport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. and the Waiting Room gallery across the road in the same place. Then we walked round Westport lake, which is just half a mile away along the canal. We saw blossom and bluebells along the canal and round the lake. We avoided heavy clouds as we walked. I think it had rained heavily in Stoke as the path was soaking wet when we got home.

Old watercolour

I miss rainclouds, full of dark grey promise. We’ve had a few weeks of dry weather and apart from a few spots of rain this morning we’ve had nothing. With that and the cold, frosty mornings, it’s taking a while for the plants to grow. We have a few seedlings, but when I went to a garden nursery they had hardly any perennial plants ready for growing on. I for one am hoping for rain soon.

Repurposing

I used our old cracked bathroom sink and pedistal as planters in the garden rather than sending them to the tip. #MendNotTrend is coming up with different challenges to re use various objects…
This was Good Fridays challenge (day two) we actually did this last year… They are looking bright and cheerful today.

Camellia

Walking today, did just shy of 3.5 miles. We saw this lovely Camellia in someone’s front garden. As the sun lowered the colours shone out. As we were walking we were discussing whether to add plants to our garden hedge that is getting rather thin and straggly. This is now a candidate, together with hawthorn, buckthorn and Holly. Maybe with a bit of beech hedging added… Its nice to contemplate the spring garden. Soon there will be frogspawn and cherry blossom (not together, obviously!)

Orchid drawing

Orchid plant, black ink drawing over green sprayed and blown ink. Based on the idea of Shibui found art by my friend Pejj Nunes. The idea is you create a background from paint by using random methods and then add detailed images on top of the base idea. I’m not sure if this is the correct way of doing it but I like it. …

Amaryllis

It’s great how these bulbs become dormant after flowering, eventually the old leaves die down… Then they spring back into life when you water them about this time of year. Little and often is my way of doing it. Water but don’t drench. The bulbs swell, then suddenly a couple of leaves sprout, growing rapidly with a flower spike. I have kept one bulb for ten years. Each time it grows bigger. But don’t be eager to put it in a larger pot. It takes a few years, it likes being crammed in a pot. I only move them into the next size up pot. My oldest has grown a secondary bulb that also flowers….