The morning my garden grew...

“However many years she lived, Mary always felt that 'she should never forget that first morning when her garden began to grow'.”  
Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

One morning this week I glanced out of the window to check the weather. It had been raining overnight and looked like the incoming rain clouds would soon overthrow the watery morning sunshine that was trying to gain strength.

This combination of rain overnight followed by warmer days is doing something exciting to the garden though. New plants are breaking through the soil, tiny flowers are starting to show themselves. The unidentified tree at the bottom of the garden has suddenly sprouted catkins all along the length of it's branches. The established camellia bush next door has decided to share its heavy blooms with us. The patch of unknown leaves that threatened to take over the whole lawn has started to show us its' purple flowers...not open enough for me to identify it quite yet though. A ladybird quietly goes about her business before the next shower.

All this activity and growth means that I need to tackle the overgrown bottom third as quickly as possible, so that will be my project over the next two weeks. I need to clear it of brambles and stinging nettles, gently prune the lower branches of the trees & ivy and give the primroses and foxgloves enough dappled light to encourage them to flourish.