Spring Fever

I'm always touched by the fact that wherever we make our home, lots of us human beings and artists live very similar lives and share a taste for the same pleasures as well as wrestle with the same problems. One of my greatest pleasures is to walk around our garden and discover ever more treasures rising up out of the ground. It's a joy I share with Tristan among others as you can see on his blog here. Looking and reading blogs like this lifts my heart and makes me appreciate how wonderful this world of ours is despite all its problems.

Specially at this time of the year new surprises come up almost every day and I do the rounds more than once. Of course the time has sprung forward last night and although it was a very cold night indeed (minus 5 Celsius) things seem to recover quickly once the sun starts to shine and it really was great to be able to open my studio door wide and let the sun shine in.

Here are a few of my treasures:

Who cannot love primroses? They are such lovely delicate sweet flowers and I specially adore this soft and gentle yellow. It's just about the most stunning pastel yellow in the world!

Hardly any daffodils are out here at 900 feet high in the Scottish Borders whereas I have already seen them in full bloom in Peebles and elsewhere. Of course south of the Border in England they have been flowering for ages already as you can see on this blog (a real favourite of mine) Only the miniature ones are showing their gorgeous yellow already. These are only 6" high, but in the coming weeks I expect a yellow symphony when all the daffodils show their colours.

I'm not a lover of rhubarb as something to eat, never have been and probably never will be however healthy it may be, but I love the look of this plant at its first outing above ground. The shoots are really very red indeed and combined with the very crinkly leaves form an impressive spectacle.

A very early flowering beauty, which is called Soldiers and Sailors in common parlance as at the same time there are both mauve and blue flowers on this plant. It was a gift from Linda (thanks again!!) and an early flowering perennial. With this one you almost get two for the price of one and I adore its subtle shades.

And there is someone else, who definitely is suffering from a rare case of spring fever, routing around in the flower beds, jumping into the stream (filled with mud!!) and chasing his utterly reluctant greyhound sister around the garden. He is such an adorable but cheeky lad!