Tooooo early.

No, that's not a typo in my heading. It's just way too early to be up and posting. 3.15am to be precise. I sleep pretty badly nowadays and how frustrating it is to know you have a day in front of you to do some serious gardening only to also know that you are going to feel wrecked most of the day because for half the night you have lain awake.

The trouble with being awake so much in the night is that it makes me feel tired throughout the day .In fact, the other day I was so tired I brought out the hammock and hopped into it with a cushion and a blanket even though it was the hottest day of the year so far. With the sun beating onto my face and warming me up I was blissfully relaxed till I felt a bump against my bottom followed by two paws and a little black and white face looking over the side of the hammock at me. Socks, Jack's cat was around and didn't want to miss out on the snoozing action. She wandered around the base of the hammock before leaping gracefully up into it with me. She hadn't worked out her coordinates though and jumped straight up onto my face! A wake up call!

She soon settled down on my blanket and the two of us dozed in the warmth of the sun for a while.

Right now she is purring by the side of me as I type this, having found her in the other bedroom when I tried to sleep in there I decided to make the best of being awake and came down for a cup of tea she followed me and is curled up on the blanket again. Nice life if you can get it, hey?

The RHS is in town this weekend, their first show of the year and always a crowd pleaser but we've decided not to go. One day I'll make it to Chelsea to witness that spectacle but the Cardiff one is always a little early to have the range of show gardens I want to see. Plus Luke would rather stay home. So that's decided. It's a great weekend for it though, I'm sure the organisers are sighing with relief – it makes such a difference to outdoor events as the Ryder Cup held in Newport last year proved when it had to go into a fourth day due to torrential rain.

Well, if I don't get any extra sleep tonight I think my day in the garden will be spent back in the hammock trying to catch up!

Not bad for the price of a cuppa!

This lovely creation cost me less than a cup of tea because it was 75% off. A beauty and a bargain - result.

The underside of the plant, lovely from any angle.

 Little bells of purple.

Isn't she lovely?

I can't think of many flowers I like more than the ranuncula. I like showy, blousey paeonies, old fashioned roses and anything with a double flower. I guess I'm just attracted to show offs. But a ranuncula to me, whilst having all the pizazz of a superstar in the garden, doesn't shout it out. It sits very still, on a grey-green stem and makes no fuss whatsoever. This makes it even more delicious to discover - it looks like the underside of a nineteen fifties' petticoat; layers and layers of tulle wrapped in ever increasing circles from the main stamen, like the skirts of a rock and roller being twirled about. It's hard to beat in my book. Judge for yourself.

Delicates.

 These shy nodding delights are so beautiful when you chance upon them. The detail in each chequerboard petal is so precise and the Alba varieties are not outshone by the more colourful varieties.

More tulips, can you get enough of them?

Here are some more photos of the tulips in pots and in the ground. Makes me wish I'd planted more now!

This is my favourite, still tightyly wrapped with what looks like little frog hands clasping the sides..

Close ups: see how different each one is?

Beauty in a row, like a line of ballerinas at the bar.

Tubs make great splashes of colour which can be picked up and moved to wherever you want them.

 

And here we have some, rising taller than the fairy at the bottom of the garden.

A promise of spring - new growth.

Spring is here and the garden is responding to the week of lovely temperatures. 

A swinging time.

Guess what I did in the garden this afternoon? Lay in the hammock with an iced ginger ale and ogled Rob Lowe's semi naked body! Not bad work if you can get it, hey? Actually I was more interested in having a sleep on the hammock as I felt completely 'done in' after a few late nights (didn't finish work till 9.20 last night and was home eating our dinner at 10 to 10).
So today was a half day and did I ever need it? So no photos were taken, no borders dug, no peas planted - just me in the hammock with garden birds whizzing thirty centimetres above my head on their flight path to the feeders. I could almost have thrust out my hand and caught a bundle of feathers they were that close.
I still have the luxury of garden vouchers to spend once I've the time and inclination to spend them but for now everything in the garden is rosy and I'm pleased to have spent the last few hours reading, squinting into the sun and snoozing. Ahhhhhh.

Wonderful ranunculas.

How pretty are these little swirls of colour. Nature is the most wonderful artist. I love ranunculas, they look like the the underskirts of tutus to me.

Tulip fever.

So, okay, I admit, it's not a great show just yet but oh, the promise is there. 

Here are a selection of the tulips about to burst forth; more to be added next week.

Let them eat cake.

I had not one, not two but three cakes for my birthday. Belgium Biscuit cake, courtesy of Mum (thank you, Mum) Red velvet cake and  Heavenly Butterscotch cake, courtesy of Luke (thank you, Luke). I've got to take some into work and give some to friends so there's not much left but as I also have to squeeze into a swimming costume in two months time it's not such a bad thing.

A healthy lunch followed by cake.

A helping hand.

Here is Socks, next door's cat, 'helping' me type.

A weekend in pictures.

Here's a few pics.

 Tulips.

 Our conservatory - with cat!

And closer up.

 Drumstick primula, one of the first plants I bought for the garden last year. Here it is again, after hiding underground whilst the snow was here.

Lovely Shakira, eating from my hand. See the seed in her beak? She had a proper bath last night too then vaseline on her legs (to stop scaly mite) and a good dusting of red spider mite powder. Very posh.

 Bleeding heart, Dicentra Alba.

Forget me not. Tiny flower but perfectly formed.

Birthday treats.

One of my favourite presents today was a pair of gardening gloves but the nicest part for me was going to the garden centre to find an orchid for my Mum. Not buying for myself was a treat and I still have my gardening vouchers for another day. Lots of tulips opened up today and revealed their faces to the world.
Hello Beauties.