In between the hail showers...

... I am pottering in the garden on Mothering Sunday. The sun is warm and inviting, but no sooner am I absorbed in weeding than the sky darkens and there is a quick stinging shower of hail. Dive indoors, and take off the thick sweater and gardening stuff and, of course, the sky is blue again.

Time to break the cycle, and have a freshly brewed coffee and upload some signs of spring discovered this morning on close inspection of the garden.

One of the snakeshead fritillaries that I planted last spring, to replace some vanished ones. they have flowered, hurrah! They really do best in damp meadows, but under the trees seems to suit them OK.

A shy violet was hiding at the base of the rowan tree. I think I brought these home to the garden originally from the woods in the village. They gradually disappeared, but my parents had taken some and they were growing in their garden in London. After they died and we were clearing the house, I dug some up to re-introduce them here. So I don't feel too bad at taking them from the wood all those years ago!

Some white violets that I bought from a garden sale have established nicely in the shade by the copper leaved epimedium ( I dont know which variety epimedium unless I go out into the hail and check to see if the label is still around)

A horse chestnut bud, more commonly known to children in England as a Sticky Bud, for 0bvious reasons . LLF has a gift for growing these from conkers but she doesnt have a garden right now, so we have several pots with small trees, ready to plant out at some point.