Monday sunshine (Coombe Wood walk)

Lovely morning for a walk - and a lot of other people thought the same. The car park was full and I had to park in the overflow car park over the road. The cattle trough is looking good,

I spotted the gardener picking up rubbish and filling a black sack. He's behind the light green euphorbia in the middle of the photo.

Tulips opening wide. 

These are absolutely tiny - they are growing from miniscule gaps in a brick wall.

Various colour schemes - pinks and blues here. 

 Buds and blue sky.

Fat magnolia buds 

Tiny blue flowers - like forget-me-nots but with wide silver and green patterned leaves.

White blossom 

More fat pink magnolia buds.

Little orange flowers with red stems.

Masses of lily-of-the-valley

Strong scented blooms in front of acer trees which are sprouting tiny leaves. From a distance the red one looks like a pink cloud floating (left of the photo half way up)

Bright pink magnolia buds opening. 

Red acer

Green acer - a few days ago none of these leaves were visible!

Pale pink magnolias opening 

Among the mass of tender green acer leaves tiny red flowers dangle.

And red buds are visible on the red acers too - when you look closely.

So many different colours and shapes of magnolia flowers.

The onion scented plants have shot up. 

Looking closer at the transluscent structures.

Yellow flowers - daffodil shaped but multiple flowers on long slender arching stems. 

A wall of new leaves

Red leaves opening - looking like antlers. 

Colourful new leaves. 

Bleeding hearts 

Berries

Peonies beginning to come up. 

 Tulips enjoying the sunshine.

 Crown imperial frittilaries - not looking like a bunch of carrots any more.

Bright red tulips.

White flowers (very small)

Purple and white flower bed. 

Red and blue. 

I couldn't resist another strange bulrush photo as I was about to leave. 

Thank you very much for joining me. 

Friday dull day, - but bright colours (Coombe Wood)

Everything changes so fast at this time of year - what a difference since Monday.....but starting off with something that changes very slowly - the bulrushes. I'm fascinated by the shapes they make as the seed heads disintegrate and shed their fluffy seeds.

 Primroses

Some of them are dying now - interesting disintegration of the petals. 

There was evidence of the gardener's hard work everywhere. The stream has been cleared of duckweed, and more pathways have bark on them which really helps in the muddiest places. 

Colour popping up everywhere. 

Oranges and lemons!

A bit like a bunch of carrots? 

White blossom.

Looking closer 

 Lily-of-the-valley on their way.

On a walk with a friend a little while ago I said these shrubs would be covered with scented blooms soon - well here they are.

Looking closer - and the scent was very sweet this close. 

The camellias are going mad this year. 

Showers of little bells on the left and white camellias on the right. (Bark recently put down in more of the muddy places.)

Looking closer at those bells - each with what looks like water drops but is part of each flower.

White camellia with creamy centre. 

 Rhododendrons about to  burst open. 

Big wide open pink camellias. 

Magnolia buds looking like candles. 

Little white flowers like daisies. 

Corner with hellibores - still looking good and a carpet of the onion scented plants.

Looking closer at those onion scented plants - white transluscent flowers with little berries forming at the stem joint. 

 Hellebores fading but still amazing. 

 More rhododendron buds - showing more colour. 

 Magnolia bud breaking from its covering. 

Cluster of scented flowers - such a range of colours in one flower head.

The gardener has cut all the tops from the hydrangeas. There are hardly any skeletonised flower petals from last year left now.

Neat tell-tale stripes announce that the gardener has cut the grass.   

A mass of shaggy little magnolias. 

The big beech tree. 

Open wood anemones. 

Hawthorn tree

Closer to see all the buds waiting to burst open. 

Tulips opening among all the other flowers 

Zingy euphorbia

Looking closer - at the weird insides.

I wonder if the colour combinations are the same as last year or if they are different this year.

Back to the entrance - looking at the bulrushes again. A little creature hanging from a thread.

Thank you very much for joining me.