Daisies! (two) - Spring!

Twenty to five and the hills are copper with snow streaks. Spring is just ever the hill, so to speak.

Two daffodils in flower in my garden, were in bud before the snow but have just opened now it's milder.
Been very wet and windy though so looking a little sad.

Envious of your hamamellis mollis Hunt - one of the few latin names I know but isn't it lovely. hama(dryads), honey and soft are the bits of its name - hama means tree/wood?
They are gorgeous trees and terribly slow growing. But a real treat if you see and smell one in Feb.

Daffs. here a ridiculous price ( I still remember how inexpensive they were in England) - but scooped up two lovely, and lovely priced, bunches of tulips in Lidl's today.

I've started Spring cleaning and today bought several bunches of daffodils.

Saw the first daffodil out yesterday. Hampshire. When I lived in solihull we had to wait until March.

My wych hazel is covered in squiggly yellow and red flowers, it's like a ray of sunshine.

Simple pleasures. Can't be beaten. #moonpuddles

I just wandered down to have a nosey. The burst is below the cottages, thankfully. Although there's no lighting up our hill, there are many puddles and enough moonlight reflected in them for me not to need a torch walking back up. I love that. Puddle guides

Ah-ha!

First I thought 'burn' - maybe the golden light on the hills looked all a-fired

Then I thought 'burn' - maybe a Scottish name for a wood burner - they do roar when going strong.

Yet water does roar, doesn't it, when going full pelt. Hope the cottages are not suffering.

Language, eh?

Well, the fire in the stove is certainly toasty, but I meant the water burn! Seems it has burst through the culvert lower down the hill so the road is even more flooded than it usually is. The 'normal' flooding, which happens every time there is heavy rain (every fortnight, probably, on average ) is just because of bad road drainage. Some of the houses down there must be at risk of flooding. There is a pair of very old cottages that were built right next to the stream. The stream is enclosed in the culvert now.... in theory.

Toasty.

The burn is roaring.

Drenching downpour all day. Minibags says the road is flooded (school shoes soaked through since she had to wade through it ). Then the rain stopped as the sun was sinking below the clouds. Golden highlights among the deep greys.

A beautiful false-spring dusk this evening. Streaks of pewter, purple, hot pink, mango, gold and finally the thinnest pen line of flame red. Beautiful.

The grass is greening, snowdrops are opening, daff shoots are appearing, birds are pairing up.

Yes, it made us happy to see the bulbs coming through, I love the spring flowers, especially snowdrops.

Catkins, lots of them

Our crab apple is showing signs of sprouting and we have daffodils quite far through.

Mine's got a cloche on it, too Butty. Can't beat a bit of Timperley Early!

Two marigolds amongst the snowdrops and a primula in Norfolk but the temperature has just dropped considerably!

My rhubarb is sprouting too, so it got shoved in the dark by my rhubarb cloche.

I'm very pleased nobody does that to me, although it would make me all deep pink, willowy and beautiful to eat.

On a shopping trip 2 days before New Year, there were daffodils in flower in Bideford, but there are a few places on that stretch of verge that flower late December most years.

Oh and two Robins have been in and out of my Ivy the last few days , I've had Robins nest in there before so I'm hopeful for this year.. I put some meal worms out in their small feeder to encourage them. Just love to watch a nest of baby Robins grow up and fledge successfully.
Bring on Spring I say..

I have a bunch of beautiful snowdrops in the front garden , I don't mind the cold coming , can't abide the dark, damp and dismal days we've had lately...