Petal Perfection

One of the things that I love about this time of year is that there is still time to pause and admire each new arrival – it won’t be long before there’s so much happening that individual flowers will go unnoticed. The variety of shape and colour is extraordinary when you take a close look. The tubular petals of the bright pink bellis daisies have white interiors, while the tissue paper petals of the ranunculus look far too delicate to withstand icy blasts but seem impervious to the variability of the spring weather.

In the woodland garden the Erythronium put in a brief but lovely appearance with their recurved yellow petals – they always remind me of the hats worn by the imps in Rupert Bear Annuals of my childhood.