Reflection Through The Seasons

THE SEASON HAS CHANGED.....

We are now well and truly into summer and I’m acutely aware that I have been very lax with blogging recently..... I do apologise to those of you who have stopped by only to find that postings have not been updated....... Life has been busy plus coping with gardening both at home and at the veggie plot...... and my days have expired before I’ve achieved all I have hoped to fulfil.

I’ll make an attempt at catching up by continuing from where I left off in the month of April........

APRIL was a glorious month. This is a view from our village with the backdrop of mountains

Warm sunny days encouraged us outdoors to enjoy the countryside and garden. Bluebells have flowered in profusion this spring, their fragrance and colour delighting the senses.

......golden gorse too.....

Do join me and take a look around my garden and see how it looked in April. The delicate Welsh poppies are always a delight.

Apples trees had masses of blossom, so we anticipate a good crop of apples later in the season

Watching the ferns unfold in their mysterious snake like fashion is always interesting........

.....and then voila! what magnificence.

The beautiful golden hop scrambles wherever it will.....

I usually place my hostas on various tables throughout the garden, this way I avoid a lot of slug damage.

I think you know I'm very fond of architectural plants, particularly palms.......

.....this 'was' my very favourite tree fern. The picture was taken last year.... sadly the harsh winter was just too much for it, despite a good winter jacket......

and now it looks like this......

The cordylines survived....

A pretty church in a nearby village always puts on a seasonal floral arrangement around the porch door. Isn't it charming and inviting too!

Onto the delicious month of MAY.... my very favourite month. The wisteria flowers hung heavy on the boughs this year and presented a most beautiful display right in front of my kitchen window.

In the greenhouse seedlings started earlier and were all growing well.....

I wonder, can anyone identify this mystery plant for me. I bought it last year at a car boot sale, it produces a single flower on a long stem (approx 5 inches), topped with a flower that holds many stamens which hold tiny yellow dots of flowers.

We had a share of rainy days in May too..... but even on wets days the garden looks colourful.

Sadly the peonies suffer in the rain, their flower heads hold the water so, the weight of which bends the stems over badly

Another plant with no name, I bought it quite cheap at a local nursery..... the name tag was missing..... it looked a little sorry for itself at the time, but has since brighten up and has flowered well. Can anyone identify it for me please.

We are now in the month of JUNE..... days are long and warm and this month held a great thrill for me.... that of a visit from a dear blogging friend all the way from Australia.......This is Frances (Alice) the owner of Growing Delight Blog she was visiting from down under, having first spent several weeks in Europe with family and friends and meeting her darling little granddaughter Evelynne for the first time.

I was overjoyed when I heard that Frances and husband Richard.... a lovely man with such a great sense of humour were including a week in Wales before returning home....... so, on 4 June, Frances & Richard together with cousin Frances and her husband Graham spent the day with us. They had renting a holiday cottage on the Cambrian coast a little further south. It was so good to meet up after corresponding and blogging together for a few years. Frances was the second person to leave a comment for me when I first started blogging way back in December 2005. Every comment left on my blog is appreciated so very much... but you know how precious those first comments are when you first enter into the world of blogging.

Frances & Richard it was indeed a joy to spend a day with you. Who would have dreamed way back in 2005 that we'd been standing together on our front steps in 2009. What a wonderful day!

This time last year John and I had recently returned from a fantastic trip of a lifetime to Georgia USA visiting my dear blogging friend Betty & husband Edward. We have relived, day by day our time out there not only from the diary I kept and the pictures we’d taken but by turning the pages of an amazing book that Betty had compiled and had printed for us. I would like to share those days with you as I once again turn the pages of this exquisite book.... such a wonderful gift..... recording that precious time we had with them in their beautiful home, meeting their dear family and so many of their friends......

If you click on the pictures they will enlarge and you’ll be able to read about our adventure.

Thank you Betty & Edward we love you.