Wednesday, April 22

Another lovely day, with warm sunshine. Early morning I spend visiting a nursery, a new discovery, which is packed to the gunnells with plants, and buy a mixture of perennials, alpines and Dahlias. A Ruby Tiger moth, the first I have ever seen in the garden, settles on a Granny's Bonnet, long enough for me to take a photo. A Magpie is mobbing a Blackbird and a Butterfly is chasing a Bee! My dad leaves a pretty French Lavender on the doorstep which is an unexpected surprise.
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Cut back Bramble and pull/dig out weeds. The ever multiplying Dandelions will have to wait until another time, although I snap off and discard flower heads as I pass by. Divide Antirrhinum which have successfully overwintered and plant out.
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Tuesday, April 21




Warm and sunny, a blue sky and little cloud with a north-westerly wind. Today, for the first time in the garden, I see a male orange tip butterfly, along with a holly blue, peacock, small white, tortoiseshell and speckled wood. Following my every move around the garden, hoverflies are buzzing in my ears. Bees are finding nectar inside flowers of the yellow deadnettle and a wasp is on the ivy. I am enjoying the sound of a male blackbird singing in a neighbouring conifer tree and watching the dunnocks on the feeder. A local black cat who visits daily is watching me from the steps which lead to the top of the garden. The snails are attacking my hostas in pots, I knew they would; and brushing past a white iris I break off an emerging flower stem, I knew I would!

Divide primroses to make extra plants to fill in gaps in the borders.
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