And then there was sunshine!

After a  belated burst of winter this past Sunday when we were enveloped by snow, today had a distinctly springlike appearance and we decided to catch up on the snowdrop display in Dawyck Botanical Garden. It was misty first thing this morning but by midday the sun was in the sky (although quite low still) and the temperature was distinctly balmy.

So lovely was it that I walked around the garden without a coat, although I was wearing a sweater. This is Scotland after all. That beautiful blue sky was the focus of much of my camera's attention.

And as always I captured many trees. Soon the leaves will start to appear and there won't be the visions of the bare trunks reaching up, which is how I prefer my tree photographs.

And of course we enjoyed the snowdrops. There were huge sways of them which looked stunning but it's the close-up views I prefer. This was a very interesting sort of snowdrop, with a bell shape and green dots. I did look around to see if I could find a name of this variety but without success.

Now know thanks to my fellow blipper Annie that this variety is called snowflake!

It wasn't just snowdrops that have started to flower. Here is another plant already looking wonderful.
PS thanks to Doreen who helped me out enormously by recognizing this as a leuconum or spring snowflake.

The remnants of last years growth could still be seen too and I have John to thank for pointing out this beautiful seed pod. Such fabulous texture and patterns. It was light as a feather and I rested it on some old leaves and ice to capture it's beauty.

And finally just before we went inside to the visitor's centre to have some tea I spotted hellebores for sale and couldn't help but take a picture of the spiralling centre. So luscious.

We also met a fellow blipper who recognized me from my portrait on the blip site. You can find her journal here.  It's so lovely to be able to put a face to the pictures. Can't wait to see what she will be blipping today. In fact, at the moment I don't even know which of these pictures will be my blip.So much beauty to choose from!