British Summer Time began on Sunday. We’ve finally started having the sunshine and warmer temperatures that make it seem like summer might actually arrive as well, though there are forecasts for sleet later in the week.
When I was a child, I was told that summer began when you could stand on seven daisies with one foot. We don’t seem to have daisies in our patch of lawn, so maybe it hasn’t begun yet for us. Mostly, our grass is mixed with buttercups and dandelions, which give cheerful yellow splotches amongst the green and dead leaves.
On the other hand, the Polar Bear snowdrop has finally flowered, Disappointingly, not much like a polar bear. It has been joined, however, by a blue-belled plant. Not bluebells, which don’t normally flower until about May, but the Siberian, or wood, squill, which has lovely blue bell-shaped flowers.
And the other flowers which survived the squirrels’ raids have turned out to be tulips, standing tall in a row.
The flowers aren’t the only things doing well at the moment. The blueberries and honeyberries have both begun to blossom, and the magnolia and fig are regrowing their leaves. They haven’t yet been unwrapped from their winter hessian, just in case of a late frost. The berry bushes have been joined by a mulberry, though that one hasn’t yet started to bud.
And there have been big fat bumbles buzzing around, so hopefully they’ve been finding the berry blossoms and other flowers in the garden. I’ve also seen a couple of blue tits hopping around the trees with bits of moss and grass in their beaks.
Truly, Spring has sprung.
Fairy Cake Living 