April showers (Coombe Wood)

Showers were forecast but the sun was streaming across the flower beds when I arrived

Two ducks were preening in the sunshine

Only a few of these had fully opened before but now the whole plant was covered

Leaves were lit up by sunlight

An idea of scale - tiny tulips in front of primroses

 A closer look at the tiny blue flowers

New growth in the prairie beds

Looking up inside the orange fritillaria that looked like a bunch of carrots on my last trip but has now opened

Pink blossom

Part of the leaf  of the banana plant that has broken through it's winter protection was blowing about like a flag in the breeze

 Lily of the valley - flower buds much more visible now

Magnolia 

The little pink bells - I found a way round to the back of this plant and managed to get a few better photos today.

 Acer flowers - so tiny and delicate

Different shaped leaves on another tree. Perhaps I need a book of trees - I might manage to identify some of them then.

The onion smelling plants that friends tell me are either edible wild garlic or a similar plant that is toxic - berries at every stem junction

 Red acer

Tree peony - the leaves are uncurling and the flower buds are shooting up in the middle

 Hawthorn blossom

Bright splash of colour among the bluebells and long grass . . .

Snakes head fritillary

Back to the flower beds. for even more colour

 White tulips pushing their way between all the magenta

Suddenly the heavens opened and for a moment white stuff fell like bobbles of polystrene before turning quickly to rain. Umbrella up, I took a couple more photos before heading home.

Flamboyant orange and red 

 Young ferns like decorative snail shells

Rain drop ripples filled the pond 

Thank you very much for joining me

Coombe Wood walk - late morning

I met my sister at Coombe Wood this morning and we enjoyed a walk together before today's April showers arrived.

I parked over the road which meant I had to pass close to the gunera on the way in. Some of the leaves are already quite large

and it has produced a flower

Up the path some tiny magenta flowers are coming out. I must try and get a better photo next time - I think I said the same when I tried to photograph them before

All of these tiny flowers are on one stem - like little snowflakes bobbing in the breeze

Silvery green patterned leaves under the magnolia tree. These have little blue flowers that look like forget-me-nots.

An orange fritillaria with the flowers closed looked a bit like a bunch of carrots

Delicate white flowers on the plant that has star shaped seed pods. (If you touch a seed pod now they fall apart. Woops!)

Tiny buds hanging below the upright new leaves

Acer flowers

Behind the shrubs with cascades of white bells on there are some pink ones - I had trouble getting close enough for a good photo - I must try again next time (I might need to make a list of things to revisit on my next trip)

Pink edged camelia - middle not yet open

This pink camelia was on the same shrub - and also has faint slightly darker pink edges

Bleeding hearts - bursting out even though very few leaves have formed yet

Some sort of dark and wrinkly fungus? I wondered if it was loose but it was firmly attached to the ground.

Oxalis flowers with delicate pink veining

Some of the ferns are beginning to uncurl

Little clusters of furry beech flowers 

I think I owe my friend an apology - I've been wondering what these were and she suggested wild garlic but I googled it and pictures of other plants came up so I thought it must be something else. I sent a photo to Gardeners World and someone has replied saying they think it's wild garlic.

Little yellow flowers on a circle of low growing shrubs around a tree

Flowers like little squat bottle brushes 

As we came round the corner we met the gardener, who was putting mulch around the plants today

Further along the path the cats came to greet us

A snakes head fritillary in the grass in front of the daffodils (which are still flowering!)

The gardener told us that these are Dog Tooth Violets. What a strange name - they're yellow - not violet! I didn't doubt that he had the right name for them - but I've looked them up to find out more and they come in quite a range of colours.

More bleeding hearts coming out in the wide border

Another barrow load of mulch on its way

Tulips

The pile of fluffy seeds under this bulrush is growing - it's all getting stuck to the spider's thread and the rough surface of the rock

Reflections of skunk cabbage and marsh marigolds

Thank you very much for joining me