24.02. Enjoying my garden

I haven't posted anything here for sooo long! If you have been visiting every day, wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to then my apologies; I just haven’t had the time and energy to write anything lately. I have had a lot of hospital visits in between my usual medical problems, so I am afraid writing on my blog came last on the priority list. And it probably will in the future too, but don’t give up just because I skip a week or even longer, I will be back here on my blog as promised :-)

Today has been a glorious day here in London, with 16-17 plus degrees and lovely sunshine. I took the opportunity to have a stroll in the garden and check how everything is coming along. It is amazing how fast things grow at this time of year. And not just the plants....I have a colony of pigeons on my roof and at the moment I suspect there are chicks in their nests because the pigeons are behaving like they do every year at this time; perching on the fences and in the trees in my garden whilst they are having a close eye up to the roof. In a few weeks time they will start teaching the chicks to fly...and what a circus that is every year! The chicks will try to fly from the roof to the tall conifer in my garden, which is a too long stretch the first few times they attempt, so they will “chicken out” and land in the garden instead...and the mother and father pigeons will make a huge noise to get the chick to start flying again, knowing all the dangers that could face the chick on the ground! But it’s very difficult for a chick to start flying from the ground, so much easier from a roof...apparently...so often the parents end up having to literarily guide the chicks along side them, to get them back on track. It’s quite a spectacle every year :-)

My hellebores are completely out now, don’t they look gorgeous? I have three, but this one is always the one with the most flowers. I think they suffer a bit from lack of sun where they are placed, but I am not sure where I should move them...haven’t really got a good place for them anywhere else. I need a bigger garden!

And the crocuses on the shady side are all out too now, having taken over from the ones on the sunny side which are all faded or dead by now. I don’t think you can have too many crocuses so I think I will plant some more corms this autumn, that and some snowdrops – definitely yes.

All in all my garden is pretty much on time, I certainly can’t see any sign of that harsh winter we had before Christmas – in fact, some things are earlier than many years I have been here. I had a look at the camellia today and I think it is only a few warm days away from popping the first few flowers. That is really the major sign of spring for me, and some years the camellia is first, other years the daffodils are first. I am not sure which one is winning the race this year but if I had to put my money on one of them I think it would be on the camellia.

Lastly, I am putting a funny picture of my cat. He was with me outside in the garden today, as he always is....whenever I go outside it only takes a few minutes before I hear the cat flap slams and he comes walking out too. He has a sleeping place in one of the garden chairs, but he also likes to sit on the fence like he does in this photo. For some reason, he rests his bum on the post, so that it looks like he hasn’t got any back legs! I just hade to post this photo here, I think he looks hilarious :-)

That’s it for tonight, take care, I’ll be back :-)