Tulips

Such nice spring flowers. Bright, colourful, petals like satin. Soft and shapely. It’s no wonder that there was a tulip frenzy a few centuries ago. Tulips with colours that look like flames due to a virus. A single tulip bulb could cost more than a house. I think this was in Holland. My favourites are the dark coloured ones, deep magenta or purple, almost black.

Yes tulips are one of my favourites. You have to remember to plant them deep enough about double the depth of the bulb I think? They tend to fade a bit in their second year but they give a good show if planted in drifts.

Blackthorn?

Flowers from a bush in our garden, tentatively matched in the Spring 2021 issue of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Magazine, page 13 in the Nature Spy section.

It says ‘Blackthorn is one of the first native shrubs to burst into flower around mid-Marsh.’ (I think it means March) ‘Its fluffy white flowers, tinged with pink, provide vital nectar for the first of the years butterflies, bees and flies. See how many different insects you can spot feeding on the blooms.’

Imagined characters

We had to imagine some characters to add to an illustration so I drew these. I’m not sure whether they are OK. I did a large face so it comes forward in the image, a genie that eminates from the gas fire in the illustration and a fairy just taking in the view…

The resulting image is quite strange, with added fix, owl, horse, bug and cat. Then I added some flowers and plants..

Bad photos so I used filters on my phone then Instagram to bring out the colours, I need to find a way of taking pictures without shadows and glare on the page….

Strawberries and cream

Looking for comfort food, I’ve got strawberries in the fridge but no cream. I’m going to get some tomorrow. I want something fresh and summery to remind me summer is going to arrive, that picnics might happen again. That I can visit the park again with friends one day. That life can be restored.. All that in a bowl of strawberries and cream….

Crocosmia Lucifer

I’m watching Gardeners World on BBC TV. They arr showing a compilation programme of the best bits from 2020. One section was about the crocosmia plants that you grow in the garden and the fact that their anticedants came from South Africa.

My garden has crocosmia Lucifer growing in it in the late summer, but its several years old now and I think it’s time to get new bulbs so I’ve painted this to remind myself to get some more..

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