blue monday

After a lovely Spring day yesterday, today is back to chilly and overcast. The day is also tainted with that uncomfortable feeling you get in your tummy when you know you have to go back to work tomorrow, after a lovely few days' break.

There are a few reasons to be cheerful though- one being the milder weather we have had over the last few days has led to my Sweet Williams really shooting up and preparing to bloom. I planted them last Autumn, and having spent a few weeks covered in snow, I had thought they might not survive the winter (the Ornamental Brassica which I also planted in that basket was sadly not as fortunate). I'm really looking forward to them flowering as it seems so long ago since I planted them, I can't remember what colour blooms I chose. The Sweet Williams in the watering can in the background, don't look quite as happy, but you can't have everything.

I'm also experimenting with a tired old ivy plant I found in a really horrid planter behind the shed, left over from the previous occupants. Rather than fling it in the compost, I'm going to see if I can give it a new lease of life, by planting it into a little bucket that the girls got with some Easter chocs in and training it round a little heart I made out of a coat hanger. I'm not too hopeful that it is going to survive, as it was so root-bound in its previous pot, I had to really hack away at the root structure to get it out. I do quite like the idea though, so if it dies on me, I shall buy a fresh little small-leaf ivy to replace it.