April showers at Coombe Wood (and theft)

Sunshine and showers - umbrella up - umbrella down - umbrella up again!

Little blue flowers that look like forget-me-nots - but aren't

Golden rain tree buds

- and blossom on the tree behind it

May tree (hawthorn) - red buds

Acer - red stems

Curtains of creamy bells

New shoots

Sun shining through leaves - like stained glass

 The bobbles on the Korean pine shone in the sunshine

 Raindrops on blue flowers - calyxes covered in downy hairs

Red acer buds

Manolia - so many different sizes and colours

Acer flowers 

I still don't know what these are - I have had several suggestions from friends but when I look up the names they have given me the pictures don't match what is here. (They smell of onions)

Colourful magnolia

Pure white star-like magnolia

Fritillaria - recovered from the storm

I met the gardener while he was clearing paths with the leaf blower. He told me that he had been shocked when arriving this morning, to discover that about 100 plants had been stolen. There are empty patches in the orange and yellow flower bed. It was probably done at night - a torch was found in the flower bed.

While stealing plants the thief had also disturbed other plants and bulbs leaving roots exposed

and some of the remaining fritillaria's were badly damaged

This is how full one of the red and blue flower bed is - the one that now has gaps was this full before plants were stolen.

I'm shocked that anyone has the nerve to steal plants from Coombe Wood. It must be really upsetting for the gardener - he works extremely hard to make the place so beautiful for everyone to enjoy and is obviously very passionate about his work. I hope someone notices if a lot of orange and yellow bedding plants suddenly appear in someone's garden (without flowerpots or trays etc.) and the person is caught. The gardener told me that this has happened before.

Skunk cabbage developing fast

and laurel flowers - looking as if they have tentacles

 Thank you very much for joining me