weans!

Mothers of boys are busy from son-up till son-down!

Fiona has been my best kayaking and gardening buddy, I have spoken about her a lot to people who often read this blog, they have been asking recently how she and young Angus are doing and my reply is always 'great, brilliant, really well' etc. Motherhood is not easy, I never said it was. Unfortunately its something I have done , been there, not doing it again. . . . so I am not being such a good buddy in return.

Sorry doll.

Sally's garden

spring crocus, delicate and beautiful
so pretty, luminous
purple edge hellebore
Sally lives near the sea and this photograh shows the mulch of seaweed on the left, she will cover as much of the garden as she can with it, good growing!!!

sharing

photograph by Fiona

a good friend just sent me these gardening related quotes, nice things to share

"I know of nothing that makes one feel more complacent...
than to have vegetables from his own garden...
It's kind of a declaration of independence."
--Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer In A Garden

"Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient."
-- Aristotle

in the garden

ususally I just kill off crocus so I am surprised to see this
and another one, brave things!!
the pink hellebore showing its glory, so pretty
lungwort, pink a blue
the tiny, but heavenly sented, christmas box, sarcoccus. this is a six inch high 'rescued' branch from a plant I was given that was somewhat bashed as it got reppotted.
Hebe Pink Elephant, reliably providing some welcome colour.

winter harvest

some broccoli, chard, a baby leek, some weeny sprouts and some tops off the sprout plants. just having this with baked potates and cheese.

more from the show

a funny looking thing, Asarum Splendens
another funny wee thing, Corybas Diemanicus
this is quite lovely, Pleione Formosana Clare (I must get one!!)
these dionysia would be perfect in a doll house garden, I think they are quite difficult to grow
a perfect wee cushion of flowers
and some beautiful hellebore flowers floating on water, a nice way to see them.

Dunblane Bulb Show

I am a member of the Scottish Rock Garden Club who run a number of shows and events throughout the year. today was the first with the early bulb display and two talks on collecting 'new' plants by an expert Janis Rucksans from Latvia.

Just bliss , lots and lots of snowdrops!!
unusual ones, this is Galanthus Wendy's Gold
this one is Galanthus Nivalis Sandersii
lots and lots of nice crocus too
I particularly liked this Crocus Tricolour
and Crocus Versicolour

it was another gorgeous day here, chilly out though. I managed to come home from the show with a couple of nice plants and still have money left, ususally its all spent in one go!

more photographs from the show tomorrow.

spring flowers!

snowdrops are flowering in the garden, I do like them! a little primula, I think its Gold Lace. in the greenhouse the onion seeks are starting to produce little grass-like stalks
and on the doorstep the unnamed plant in the 'stones dont throw me away' pot has turned into a lovley little Iris reticulata danfordii.

whats cooking?

I found a lovely green potting tray that fits over the cooker perfectly. I am starting sweet-peas and will keep them on the house windowsills until its a bit warmer. I might start the tomatoes too before all the window space is used up.
One packet done! Several hundred more to go! yipee!

Daisy's shadow

I was quite enhanted with Daisy's shadow on this cardboad box, its not quite in focus but it shadowed her whiskers too.

appeal

photo of Loch Sunart, taken by Maggie

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frost on flowers

primrose
cyclamen

out playing

Teddy is off work with a sore hock, photographed modelling her new 'earth-horse' healing necklace.
So I took Robbie out to play, round the school
and round again
change of direction, he looks a really nice colour when the sun hits him.
I think Teddy was a bit jealous.

more from Fiona

my new years paddle

a grand day out, lots of bright paddlers on a somewhat grey day
Greenock to Kilcreggan, not a huge paddle but a nice day out
this is the first time I have been out this year, nice to blow away the cobwebs and get the dust off the boat.

and we're off ! !

this is from 2 weeks ago, the first time Smokey was ever 'driven' in his cart. he is not totally attached here, just in case so he can be 'got out' quickly. there is an extra pair of stirrup leathers floating around in the harness there.
this is Rosemary driving him on Sunday, their 2nd drive. he is all harnessed up here. I think it just needs trace carriers and thats it. he will need to learn to take the weight of the cart on his back legs for going down hill and to walk backwards in case we ever need to do a three point turn.