FLOWER FRIDAY - THE PROMISE IS THERE!

I decided to go out into the garden early this morning - and in case you are wondering, I was dressed - because I have a friend coming later for coffee and I wanted to have a look at the different flowers and choose one for my Flower Friday shot, before she arrives.

It was quite chilly out there, but a joy to walk round and see how much has come on since we have had a few days of sunshine and then a morning of rain.  

Several of the Aquilegias, which are now blooming, are self-seeded, and they seem to do very well on our heavy clay soil. However, I also liked the Clematis, and there are several varieties flowering at the moment, Dicentra, Cornflowers, Pansies, Thrift, and there were many others vying for my attention - such a lot to choose from and they all deserve their fifteen minutes of fame on Blip. 

I was tempted to use the purple Lupin, which has an infestation of greenfly - but I have put this in as an extra, in favour of this Allium bud.  You may be wondering why we don't annihilate these little garden pests, but we have Great Tits feeding their babies at the moment, and hopefully, they will take some of these tasty little morsels for them before they eventually fledge.  

However when I saw the Alliums, I decided that one of these would be my "flower" for today.  On closer inspection, I rather liked the buds that were beginning to show on top of a long stem and although not strictly a flower, I liked the way they were starting to burst out of the almost papery covering.  It's amazing to think that such a tiny bud will eventually become such a beautiful flower!  I was a bit disappointed a few days ago, when many of the leaves on most of our Allium plants seemed to have shrivelled and died, but all was well, when I read a column written by Monty Don, who said this was quite normal - so that was a relief.

So, the promise is there - and very soon we will have the thrill of looking at a lovely Allium in all its spiky  beauty - which might sound strange to those who are not gardeners, but those who are, will understand what I am saying!

Mr. HCB and his cricket buddy, Keith, have gone down to Bristol again for another day of cricket (and will be going again tomorrow) - rather them than me sitting outside all day! 

“The bees
     care for the allium, 
          if you don’t ­–
hear them now, 
     doing their research,
          humming the arias
               of a honey opera...
Denise Levertov - In Praise of the Allium

P.S.  Thank you to everyone who left lovely comments, stars and hearts on yesterday’s AT “Lines” Blip - it seems I am not the only one who talked a lot at school, which is of some comfort!