A First Sign of the Spring to Come

Towards the end of last Summer I was looking for something to replace the Lavendar bushes which had died in the front garden. I didn't want to replace them in the same position as they sprawled over the path. Any replacements need to be further back near the fence. While I was putting up the plank on the Birdy Bistro I had an idea for a long, low raised bed, mainly for Spring bulbs. All of my front garden was gravelled nearly ten years ago. Partly to cut down on the amount of grass cutting and mainly as I knew I was heading for a major operation which would curtail heavy activity for quite a while. In the gravel I planted dwarf trees and low growing bushes so it is not as bare as it sounds.

Anyway the loss of the Lavendar bushes had left a long empty space so I used some of the other planks I had to build a long, narrow flower bed. Along the back of it I planted scores of dwarf Narcissus and as a temporary measure filled the rest with Pansies. The idea is to have the bulk of the bed planted with succulents which will spread over and down the sides to hide the wood. Also I keep meaning to get some of the six inch high bamboo edging to make the front of the bed a bit more attractive.



Since then I have been patiently waiting to see when the bulbs would start to show themselves and yesterday I noticed the first to show. It could well be quite a mixture as the bulbs were rescued from a couple of old wooden planters which were falling apart so they may have got a bit mixed up. The blue labels are to remind me where the clumps of bulbs are.

    

Now I can start looking forward to a nice splash of Spring colour.

Last night it got really blowy. My weather station recorded one gust of 57 mph. That may not have been the strongest as it only takes a snapshot about once every fifteen seconds. Fortunately only one bit of repair needed in the back garden. A pole which holds up a pipe carrying rainwater to some barrels broke so a Heath Robinson session is needed later to make it safe.

Bobby is slowly improving. The sedative used really knocked him back. They couldn't use a general anaesthetic because of his age and heart / breathing problems.  We both had a good night's sleep and he was ready for some breakfast when we came back from our early morning perambulation.