Monday Coombe Wood - Tuesday our garden

MONDAY - COOMBE WOOD WALK

As I left my car I heard horses coming along the lane. I wished I was brave enough to ask the riders if I could stroke the horses but they'd gone before I'd plucked up the courage. 

Patches of water where the sun shone brightly made the pond weed look luminous

Streaks across the pond behind the skunk cabbage - trails left by fish swimming close to the surface perhaps?

Tiny tulips 

 A closer look at the little orange flowers with red stems

White flowers - each bud tipped with that raspberry red colour that seems to be everywhere at the moment

Very small blue flowers

The primroses are still going strong

Love these - more raspberry colour

Fritillaria (alba?)

 Small red tulips 

The cats stirred themselves from their sunbathing to come and say hello. When they were both next to each other I could see that one has slightly longer fur than the other but I might not be able to tell which was which if I only saw one of them on its own.

Some of the magnolia trees are thick with open flowers now

More raspberry coloured buds - which open into strange little blue flowers

Hawthorn - May tree - with raspberry coloured buds.

Sapphire blue daisy-like flowers 

Clusters of white flowers among the heather

Korean pine "flowers" developing (like raspberries)

Pine cone and new "flowers" that haven't turned red yet. The flowers seem to develop all around the stem and then grow upright.

Some of the ones that have turned red are already quite tall

Some of the magnolia shrubs have less flowers - from a distance they look as if they are floating in the air

Red acer leaves unfurling - with flowers underneath

Cream camelia with pink edging

Pale pink magnolia

Green acer with flowers dangling underneath

Deep pink magnolia with  pale pink magnolia behind it

New leafy growth which looks purple in the shade but burgundy in brighter light

Tiny greeny yellow buds that look like brussel sprouts and opening flowers that are a bit like miniature daffodils

Peculiar tiny flowers with strange middles - will become plump shiny bright red berries later on like the one peeping through from underneath

Some buds are subtle and blend in with the leaves

Rounded grape hyacinth bells with delicate white borders on the more mature bells

The stems of the yellow flowers have shot up lifting their heads above the other plants that are beneath them - and tulips are shooting up even higher throughout the flower bed creating layers of colour

Another bed is full of delicate pinks and blues . . .

 . . . interspersed with pops of raspberry red

Back to the pond - skunk cabbage and marsh marigolds. The sun had gone behind a cloud and the pond week was no longer flourescent

TUESDAY - OUR GARDEN

Forget-me-nots

My "Cliff Richard" rose - leafy growth catching the sun

The delicate flowers of the oniony smelling plants looked like stained glass in the sunshine

Daisy 

Fluffy robin singing its heart out

Lilac blossom

I caught sight of a heron flying over the gardens - it's been visiting my near neighbours' pond recently

It landed on the neighbours' roof and surveyed the area

The heron's feathers ruffled in the breeze. A noisy crow flew at it several times so it took off again, followed by the squawking crow. The heron is such a majestic bird with a huge wingspan - not really what you expect to see in gardens in town - quite a treat - although the neighbour with a pond probably doesn't think so.

Thank you very much for joining me