New paintings and regular art updates.
Such a pretty flower, even when it fully opens up…. Generally tulips are sold in bud and then gradually open up fully over a few days, although this happens more when they have been cut through their stems, are brought into a warm room, and displayed in a vase.
This is a photo taken by my friend. I’ve only got three pale pink tulips at the front of my house. I tried taking a photo, but my phone keeps switching itself off.. I think its battery is going… Anyway happy Spring to you all.
Variegated Holly. Taken a few weeks ago. On a bright, sunny day. The blue sky was reflected off the shiny surface of the leaves. I like the way the spiky edges add to the textures. Holly can be male or female. The female plants are the ones that grow the berries.
A formidable hedging plant, it grows slowly but if your not careful it can grow up out of reach. It needs pruning to keep it in shape. And with the sharp pickles it can be painful to trim.
My kitchen windowsill is covered with Christmas cactuses. I underwater them before the festive season so they are only just starting to grow individual flowers instead of lots of them.
Some of there were cuttings from my Grandmother’s plants from about 1996….? It’s amazing how they have such longevity .
Blood red
Deep red
Deep green
Green leaves
Leaves flutter
Flutter like birds
Birds singing
Singing songs
Songs of summer..
Marigold? I’m not sure. Taken 14 years ago, came up on Facebook memories. The brilliant orange makes me want to eat fruit! I think there’s a tiny bee or wasp sitting in it. I think it was taken on a digital camera not on my phone. Not bad memory. I can even remember my friends garden where the photo was taken.
Soon I’ll know if the roses I planted last year have survived the winter. I put in five of them. Climbers and ramblers. I wanted them to grow on the remains of the hedge our neighbour (a builder) had torn out and made our garden vulnerable to being burgled two October ago. I’m hoping they will make a prickly, but beautiful barrier. I love scented roses and I might try putting a few more in this spring. You can get bare rooted ones that you just use a slit trench (push the spade into the soil and make a slit) to plant. Fingers crossed.
This morning the last flower on the Gladioli stem had fallen onto the path. I think someone had knocked it off as they walked past. I picked it up and put it on my step because I liked it’s beauty against the old peeling paint. It will soon fade and wither so I’m glad I captured it before it’s gone.
I have a huge buddliea bush that has grown upwards and has reached outside the upstairs landing window. The bush hasn’t been pruned as it grows huge bracts of white flowers which butterflies love. The flowers are pressing against the window pane, starting to go over now. I really need to get it cut back. My garden is full of big plants that have overgrown too much. I guess my green fingers must be working too well? I hope it means my carbon footprint is quite low.
Florets unfurl
The hydrangea bursts
A firework flower
Bursting into life!
Flowers everywhere. I love these deep pink petunias. It’s a close up of one of my hanging baskets. When the sun shines they seem to glow.
The head in the background is a ceramic one I made about 30 years ago. It’s got a few flowers trailing from it that managed to survive the winter.
There is an ancient song from the 14th century I think?
Sumer is icumen in,
Loude sing cuckou!
Groweth seed and bloweth meed,
And springth the wode now.
Sing cuckou!
Ewe bleteth after lamb,
Loweth after calve cow,
Bulloc sterteth, bucke verteth,
Merye sing cuckou!
Cuckou, cuckou,
Wel singest thou cuckou:
Ne swik thou never now!
We sing this at choir practice (with slightly less difficult wording).
Mallaband-Brown