The garden mainly

I thought someone was kidding today at the shop when they said that all the British airports were closed  – but they were right!  No flights at all!  UK and now Northern European airspace is closed – and all because of the volcanic eruptions in Iceland, with clouds of ash being blown over Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and on to the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern Germany– but then you probably know all this.  It’s bound to have made not just national but world news.  It has to affect air travel further afield.  Earlier I saw on the TV News  a pilot whose flight to Belgium was cancelled.  He had an ongoing flight from Belgium, so was trying to get there by ferry, but by the sound of things there wouldn’t be any flights out of there when he got there either.  I wonder if we’ll notice the ash.  Again on the News they say we may see a slight covering of the stuff on our cars by the morning!  It’s extraordinary!    Of course this could also upset the weather for long enough.  Will that mean for good or bad? Time will tell!  I have to say the sky looked beautiful today, but is that the ash up there in those clouds? 

Completely unaware of the Icelandic cloud, I was out in the garden this afternoon,  not doing too much at the moment, but looking to see what plants have  survived the winter and planning what’s to go where in due course.  The daffs are blooming well now so I took photos of the different varieties I have.  I’m not sure of their names but this is my favourite.   It has the same outer ring of petals as the traditional daffodil, but doesn’t have the tube style centre.  Instead there are six inner petals lying back against the outer ones.  I love the colours too.

 

These bright yellow traditional “Wordsworth” type of daffies are really stretching their heads to the sun.  They remind me of some cartoon character whose name I can’t recall!!

 

I love these pale, almost white ones too. 

 

 

 

 

Then of course there are the tiny Tête à têtes seen here in a pot with some Christmas roses and primulas waiting to be planted out. 

My primroses are beginning to pop up but the cowslips are doing well.  I wondered where they got their name – was it cow slips or cows lips – but I looked it up and came across this website that explains it’s Old English for a cowpat.  Take a look!  There’s a lot of history and lore about these wild flowers.

I should have taken pics of the other flowers in bloom just now.  I have a lovely clump of what we used to call pompom flowers when we were kids.  They are white primulas denticulata.  Ours at home were pinky purple, but I prefer the white.  Then I have pretty blue anemones blanda and  little blue squills.  Oh, spring is so pretty.  The pear tree is bursting its buds, but the apple blossom is going to be a bit behind it.  Will I get a few more pears this year, I ask myself!!!  There are usually only three or four, and the birds usually get them before I do.

So that’s what’s blooming at the moment, with the tulips waiting in the wings!  I have a few of those little tulips with the pointed petals as well as ordinary, if that’s the word, ones.

Talk again soon.