Friday 4 February 2011

Sunshine at last

Sunshine is very welcome (and quite rare) in England at this time of year. I think I must suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), because in the Winter-time I find it is easy to get depressed, whereas I'm normally happier when the sun shines.

Last Sunday (appropriately) we had a few hours of lovely sunshine, so I managed to take several photos. Here's a selection of them.

The Prunus Autumnalis "Surbhitella" is reviving after losing most of its first batch of blossoms in the very severe weather at Christmas time.



Some Crocuses are just beginning to appear at various place, like in the shingle around the base of the Bronze Maple tree


And at the base of the "Fish" tree (Sorbus)


The Dogwood is still looking good. This red one is the one I call "Cornus Milton Keynesii" because I grew it from cuttings I took in the town called Milton Keynes.


Here it is sticking out above the carpet of decaying maple leaves.


The Euphorbia buds are beginning to swell...




The Aquilegia (Columbine) is putting up new shoots.  This one will eventually produce pink flowers.


Here we are at the end of the day. This shot is one I snapped off as I went back into the house after pursuing that fox...


Roll on Summer...

9 comments:

  1. I think the climate in your place is similar to that in Osaka where I live.
    We could see signs of upcoming spring around us at almost same time.
    It's expected that warmer days will continue from this weekend in Osaka and I believe my spinaches are getting ready to germinate.

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  2. the blossom on your Surbhitella is stunning and how cheering it is to see some colour in the garden. we have gale force winds here at the moment but these brave little bulbs and spring plants are still popping up.

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  3. Mark, I think your family and my family should both take a holiday and do a house swap. Your plants are just beautiful, but it's the houses and the countryside of England that gets me.

    I can't explain what it is, but it's surely like this for many Australians (considering the amount that go there each year!), but every time I see England, on TV, or in photos, I get a tiny little thrill and want a parallel life.

    I'm so glad you had your little bit of sunshine. I can imagine you do get depressed without it, I know when it was raining here for all that time I was starting to wake up, look outside and give up really.

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  4. Your lucky getting some sunshine. My area in Norn Iron (what the locals call Northern Ireland) was filled with rain and strong wind; people walking sideways on the footpaths/sidewalks! By the way, your photos look really nice.

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  5. Ali; I know what you mean. English people are like that about Australia - the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!

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  6. S.A.D. = a big Y.E.S. for me! It's been dark all day and I think it is completely poopy, even as I'm thankful for the irrigation. Your photos are beautiful. :)

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  7. Beautiful photos...lots of lovely color and growth, miss having Crocus! As I've grown older S.A.D. doesn't bother me as much as it used to or maybe I've just been absorbing more Vit D this year!

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  8. Sorry to hear about the SAD, it really mucks things up. I love spotting the spiky new growth of crocus, they look so determined somehow. Your prunus is looking lovely, it has reminded me to check the buds on my early Spring flowering miniature prunus which I rescued from being continually driven over last year and had to hack severely to remove the damaged wood. I'm hoping it is a fighter.

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  9. This post makes me remember how excited I was at the beginning of Spring last year...and how sick of all the Spring beauty by the end of it. Some people are never happy. And...I noticed that some leaves on the silver birch are just turning yellow. That has happened only in the last couple of days. Sigh! See...still not happy. :-),,,I mean:-(

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