Oh, to be in England
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England – now!

It’s a pleasure to open the bedroom curtains in April (well any month really). And cutting down the two big trees has certainly has opened up the view of farmland beyond the garden. The star magnolia is starting to come into its own in front of a rather too vivid azalea…..The view out front, here from the kitchen, is making progress and next year will be much better……The pots are cheerful too…There are some good individual plants

 and some pretty juxtapositions, here forget-me-nots with primroses…here two azaleas…here red azalea and white camellia….and although we don’t often get to the bottom of the garden (tho we keep urging each other to do so), it is worth the effort…. and our fruit trees are down here too…..here an espalier pear, planted last year…and a Shropshire prune…blossom’s looking good…The slate steps and pathway however are crumbly and lethal in the wet….The two ceramic sinks I converted last year with tufa are now looking a little more aged and distinguished….So, all in all, things are looking rosy, apart from things affected by the slugs and snails of which we have literally hundreds. And the pics from our lanes show that all it needs is a bit of sunshine to bring everything on a treat…The ransoms are just about to take over from the primroses…