Soft white lilac
Deep purple lilac
They are bravely peeping out of their protective buds parading themselves to the elements. The white bush has already had one of its would be blossoms damaged by frost. You can see on the right-hand side the brown tinges where the green ball has been burnt by the crisp cold. It would be an unusual year if we didn't have any more frosts before May . . . will I have any remaining lilac blossoms from my two peeping Tom's?
Dandelion (daisy family)
Primula (primrose family)
Lesser Celandine (buttercup family)
Watch out for those mad March hares ... you can see them in the fields standing on their hind legs with their front paws boxing each other like miniature kangaroos. This is the start of the courtship ritual - the females become quite aggressive and box away the unwanted advances of the males. They are best viewed in the early evenings although later in the year they course or run very quickly across the meadows. It is rumoured that if you are very lucky then you may, perhaps just once in your lifetime witness hares standing in circles. I am still waiting to witness such an event. Perhaps one day I may be lucky enough to see it - I hope that I have my camera handy if I do! Many will have heard the saying "as mad as a March hare."
Traditionally, it is now the season for Spring cleaning - and if you are thinking of beginning yours then good luck with that.
It is Good Friday today so I hope you all have a lovely, peaceful and happy Easter.
Finally, when I looked in the mirror I was pleased with the result as the holes were evenly matched and small gold studs had been placed in position. Then came the regular bathing to heal the open wounds. The one healed very quickly but the other oozed with stickiness for week after week and month after month.
After reaching the point when I truly began to wonder if it would ever heal at all, I met up with a friend who had had a similar problem. Hers had wept and oozed for almost four years when, by chance she happened to mention it to an elderly country lady who had told her the secret of how to make it heal. I was all agog - what was this magical answer? I was told it was very simple - all that I had to do was buy a block of Knight's Castile soap - take the studs out every morning wash both the ears and the studs thoroughly with a good lathering of the soap and water, rinse and dry and replace the studs. I was told no other soap will work it must be this particular brand.
It all seemed too good to be true - how could something so simple work? But it did - and very quickly too. I was so surprised at the effectiveness of this simple old fashioned remedy ~ it was simply soap and water magic!
~~~~~
I travelled the long, hard, stony track Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone!
"May you always find shamrock's under your feet and extend kindness and goodness to all that you meet."
I have had to resort to placing the gardenia in a black plastic bag or sack so that I can spray away to try and kill off the little bugs or mites that are killing off my plant. I liked the idea of trying to do this using something natural and so have mixed up a solution of washing-up liquid, lemon juice and tea tree oil. So far the plant has now received three heavy sprays and has been left dripping wet. It has been a good idea to contain it in the plastic bag as all of the loose drippings have been caught in this. I now have to play the waiting game to see whether the minute creatures have finally been obliterated.
My excellent plant did not stay in this perfect state for long though as it was slowly invaded by a micro attacker. At first all that I noticed was fine fluffy webs that were spun between branches and leaves. Finer than cotton wool fibres they lassoed small branches and leaves together almost like opaque woven cloth. I searched to see what it was that was making these gossamer webs but nothing was visible.
My gardenia resides in a tall, glazed, flowerpot which sits on a tiled surface. The tiled surface developed a sticky, tacky coating - not only in the area of the plant's stems but two to three inches further out from its shadow. After scrubbing the area with a strong detergent for the umpteenth time I caught glimpse of a light brown spot slowly moving across one of the leaves ... I watched this spot and then saw others all moving in different directions.
I have since been searching to identify this minute little creature which appeared to be some kind of a miniature brown spider mite. The surface of the leaves have been etched and sculptured away and so I really need to eradicate this tiny villain even though I keep imagining it as a kind of 'who' like creature without a 'Horton.'
It has now had chance to weather, taking on a slightly worn appearance. The birds that visit the garden have got used to it and check it out to find what is available at their little wooden restaurant. It is surprising at the variety of foods that they eat even, on occasion, the odd tropical fruit.
As I also have a cat, it is good to know that she has never tried to climb up the table legs. She does, however, sit and look either from inside with her nose not quite pressed against the window pane or from the corner of the house where she appears to think that she is invisible!
The mound was gradually excavated to reveal the start of an ants nest. There were only about six ants scurrying about and if you look at the bottom photograph just about three eggs.
Thankfully, the ants in the garden are mostly the black variety. They are probably the most common in our area - and are friendly in character. They also enjoy eating the hedgehog food or cat food especially any form of tinned fish. The ants also congregate over any fruit pieces that are placed out for the birds. In fact, with the various creatures food stuffs and the 'milk' they acquire from all of the greenfly, I should say that they perhaps have the most varied diet of any of the insect family.
In the above picture you can just make out a few of the entrances to some of the ant tunnels and their approximate size when comparing them to a finger.
More tunnel entrances are visible above.
The tunnels and ant eggs are easy to observe in the photograph above.
We found that the ants had brought all of the soil heap through a hair-line crack between two paving slabs. Now I wonder whether the ant home will reappear under the hollow stand.
Today, many people celebrate St David's day by wearing a daffodil or baby leek pinned to their clothing. Wales often uses the flag of St David, which contains the red dragon, as its national flag. 
Happy St David's day to you all!
Posts
follow me
.JPG)
