On the borders: forget-me-nots and yellow alyssum

Small-flowered plants continue their bright colours along the borders of garden beds. Here some forget-me-nots and yellow alyssum bask in the cool spring sunshine.

Cow Parsley

Running along the border at the back of our garden there is a strip of land about a metre wide adjoining a hedgerow next to a drainage ditch, and we have allowed this land to produce more or less what it will, without any cultivation from us. I particularly love the cow parsley that blooms there in spring. It always attracts a range of insects, and flies and ladybirds are often among them.

Spring time blossom

Of course one of the glories of spring is the mass of blossom that appears over a period of weeks, and below are some of the trees I encountered during this time, including cherries, plums, pears, magnolia and malus. Below one of our cherry blossom trees I have planted one of my favourite daffodils called Thalia, and they bloom at the same time as the tree, creating a lovely blend of colours.

Late hail storms damaged the blossom on our apple trees, but this is unlikely to affect the yield we get in late summer.