First Foal

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We enjoyed another beautifully sunny day today.

 

In the front garden the columnar prunus Amanogawa now reaches the top of the house and looks down onto the crab apple blossom, which is currently a magnet for bees;

 

the crimson red rhododendron brightens the corner beside the eucalyptus tree, and in the Palm Bed on the opposite side of the Gazebo Path a pastel pink variety is beginning to bloom.

 

Bluebells have now joined the honesty and the alliums beneath the red Japanese maple in the Kitchen Bed.

Garden view from above

The weeping birch now has its foliage.

Fern at dead trunk

We have been trying to save a dying yellow-leaved tree. The main trunk is hollow at the base, but another clings to its side. Jackie has filled the gaping hole with a fern planted yesterday.

Poppies

From now until well into the autumn a proliferation of yellow and orange self-seeded poppies will pop up all over the garden. Each bloom lasts a day but there are plenty of buds hanging around to replace them.

This afternoon Jackie drove me to Everton Post Office where I posted a small parcel to the new owner of my French house. We travelled on into the forest where

there was still much water on the moors, and enough moisture lay on the tarmac at the end of Jealous Lane to reflect the pillar box perched on a post.

Ignoring ponies of all shapes and sizes eating and drinking beside the road, a stately pheasant trotted across the moor.

Further along Shirley Holms, we met our first foal of the season. As is usual, the youngster, adhering to its mother’s flanks, found me worthy of interest, whilst the mare focussed on the grass.

A pair of mallards who appeared to have fallen out, and a colony of feeding rabbits occupied fields beneath the railway at the corner of Jealous Lane.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s tender chicken curry and pilau rice garnished with fresh coriander. She drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Paniza.

73 comments

  1. Absolutely gorgeous – the sunshine, the blossom, the little foals. I love the poppies – the picotee ones are my favourites, with the hint of an orange edge. It’s nice to see an overhead view too. All that hard work is really paying off.

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  3. All my favorites again, Derrick. I doubt you are doing it on purpose, you simply have a great countryside!!

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  4. Things are looking beautiful there–thanks for sharing the photos. What a darling little foal! I am also a great crabapple-blossom fan, and hope they smelled as lovely as they look.

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      1. Enjoy. I find them so distinctive somehow, different than apple trees, and always am disappointed if they are the kind with no scent. Enjoy!

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  5. The spring green outfit of the birch is particularly beautiful, though the selection of photos today has much to be studied minutely! Why is that Lane called Jealous?

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  7. That foal is such a cutie. Also, nice action picture of the wascally wabbit.

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  12. These photos are splendid, Derrick! That pheasant is stately, the foal is absolutely adorable, and your action shot of the rabbit is amazing. That rabbit looks big, but perhaps it’s just the photo.

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  15. Thank you for trying to save the tree. The yellow poppies are delightful, but the foal is even more delightful. I hope he or she keeps close to mother. I’d be tempted to shoo them away from the road, but I worry more than I should and will look one more time at the flowers before I go. 🙂

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    1. Many thanks, JoAnna. It is not unreasonable to worry about the foals. One of the first lessons they seem to learn is how to disrupt the traffic

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          3. There are fences to the major roads. The horses wouldn’t follow crossings, they just step out and cross where they will. The major problem is driver awareness.

  16. The burst of ruby back-lighted by the azure sky is breathtaking. Loved the foal, who obviously was impressed by you, and the rabbits feeding merrily on the moors.

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  20. Wonderful expressions of Spring. Always enjoy your gardens and the animals that have as much freedom time roam as they want. A beautiful pheasant. Thanks for sharing.

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  22. The foal, the garden… both are beautiful but for me it’s the rabbit in mid air that grabbed my attention in your gorgeous photographic sequences, Derrick. Spring is springing!

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