CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE THEM. REPEAT IF NECESSARY. THIS IS PARTICULARLY USEFUL IN AN OWL HUNT
Today being drier and a little brighter than yesterday, there were enough glimpses of sunlight to be more conducive to garden photography.
New clematises are emerging daily.
Mostly, as with this Piilu, I am grateful for the identity labels, because they all look so much alike.
Star of India, blends well with geranium palmatum.
Petunias abound;
some share their pots with pansies. The new urns, like this one, are all planted up now. Everywhere, honesty is turning to seed medallions.
Lilacs are in full bloom;
and this tree, that had only one leafing branch when we first arrived, is making a remarkable recovery. New trunks have begun to swallow the original pock-marked member.
A few bees, such as this one plundering an orange poppy
and another burrowing into a somewhat perforated pansy risked getting wet for the good of the hive.
On the edge of the rose garden, a single Altissimo bloom lives up to its name,
For Your Eyes Only burgeons within,
and most other bushes, like Absolutely Fabulous and Special Anniversary, are on the verge of bursting forth the darling buds of May.
This rhododendron
enhances the Grass Patch Bed, at the end of which stands the recovering tree mentioned above.
This pivotal patch can be viewed from the tree peony hiding behind the viburnum plicatum;
from the Dead End Path;
and from the Brick Path.
Elsewhere, sculptural alliums, like these in the Palm Bed, are opening out all over.
For our dinner this evening the Culinary Queen produced pork chops coated in mustard and demerara sugar and topped with almonds; boiled, sautéd, and sweet potatoes; cauliflower and carrots; and peppers, tomato, leek, and onion sauce; followed by bread and butter pudding and custard. She drank Hoegaarden, and I drank Reserve des Tuguets madiran 2012.