Looking Forward

Bowl of Beauty Peony

Cross hybrid peony

Shirley Temple peony

 Spring is the time to look forward to what the garden will hopefully bring. Gardeners are either competitive or optimistic people , always hoping that every seed and plant they have will out perform their past efforts.

Personally I am not competitive but always full of hope that each cherished treasure will this year, not only have survived the winter, but be more beautiful and fruitful than it was previously. We are however powerless, at the whim of the weather. Last year a late frost caused all my soft fruit blossom to perish and although the plentiful  rain meant my plants all but on a lot of green growth the fragile blooms were often beaten and lost their petals rather rapidly.

I am also an avid collector, of hostas, lilies and peonies mostly. I always try and get out as soon as my peonies bloom and take a photo just in case the rain comes and strips them of their exquisite luminous beauty.

As well as the wonder of these precious blooms I am looking forward to the many special days and events. At the beginning of May they dress the wells here. It is a unique festival of thanks for the many fresh water springs that this area is blessed with. At this time the hills are also clothed in the pale fragile blue of the English bluebell. The sight is amazing but it is the smell that really lifts you.

I am also looking forward to many of the open gardens around here, the festivals and shows at the three counties show ground, and hopefully a couple of halciene days of sunlight and laughter.

It is always best to look forward with hope. For a starters, when you look backwards you tend to trip over your feet and bruise your backside, both literally and metaphorically.

Rubra Plena peony

The pictures are a few of my peonies from last summer.