Saving Grace...

I have a tree in my garden. It is not a particularly nice looking tree because over the years its previous owners have chopped bits of it off leaving it lop-sided. But for 2 short weeks in April it saves itself from the final chop from the tree surgeon.

Its delicate white blossom is its saving grace...

Come the autumn, I will be cursing its annual leaf-drop all over my lawn. But I have discovered that they make lovely brown leaf mould for my flower beds and so the circle continues...

In other beds around the garden, this is what is cheering me up on my daily wanderings:

The acid green of the euphorbias almost hurts your eyes...the wallflowers, I grew from seed last June...the dicentra grows almost before your very eyes...the tulips are a bit of a surprise - they were meant to be pink and green!

I love the clumps of forget-me-nots that spread like mad and make a blue carpet...the winter pansies always perk up just when you're thinking of replacing them with summer bedding plants...the amalanchier has what the gardening books describe as year round interest, with its pretty white flowers, then gleaming black berries and the most impressive autumn colour.