Chris Beardshaw's entry
Spring is a great time to be a gardener as the plants are filled with such enthusiasm, optimism and energy as buds ripe with hormones swell and burst revealing a verdant display of delicate foliage and glorious blooms. Consistently first to defy the winter chill in my garden are the modest and milky white heads of the snowdrops, although this year they were quickly joined by the cerise pink cyclamen and even the golden yellow blooms of the celandine that carefully unfurled starry petals when it was washed in sunlight. The dancing catkin tassels of the Betula and Corylus have decorated the tree canopy for weeks now and although later into flower than normal the Sloe is at last in full bloom covering the garden in a snowstorm of white petals and offering early insects, enticed out by a few days of sunshine, a heavy feast of nectar. Even the birds have entered the spirit of spring. After a winter of feasting on fat balls wrens, robins, and great spotted woodpeckers are all proclaiming their territories while feverishly nest building. With so much activity in the garden it’s hard to tear yourself away to do any gardening!