This time for Roy, I have a sample of English country greens as spring is at last bursting into life in the lovely warm spring sunshine in every garden, wood, field and hedgerow here in the UK. How I love this time of year - the release from winter, the increasing warmth, the strengthening light levels, the new growth and the promise of a warm summer to come (one can always hope). It's my favourite season of all, I think, and I'm going to celebrate it this time with photos of some of our British trees. There are both native and introduced examples, but every species shows its own particular variation on green as it come to life after the winter.
The photos were all taken in my garden and in hedgerows within walking distance of my house. I'm sure there are no surprises here at all for British visitors to this blog and that all around you things are looking just the same. I hope you will forgive my self-indulgence.
First comes a great favourite of mine (and of our grandchildren), the horse chestnut or conker tree with its buds which are delightfully sticky before opening, its large leaves that unfurl so dramatically. and its distinctive stacked flower heads (not yet open in this photo).
Then there is a small hazel bush which grows in a hedgerow along the edge of our garden. I love its delicate leaves and its nuts that are much enjoyed by the squirrels that visit us through the winter.
Now, to some trees and their flowers. First of all there are the delicately green catkins of the silver birch tree with its tiny unfurling leaves which follow the catkins. They can just be seen on the twigs in this photo between the catkins.
Then comes an ornamental cherry whose leaves have a delicate orange tinge when they first appear.
And last of all, the inconspicuous orange flowers on one of the yew trees that give our house its name. ...
As I looked through a preview of this post just now, I was struck again by the range of greens that accompany the trees I've featured. What an excellent choice of colour green is for the April instalment of the rainbow challenge! There is really no way of escaping it wherever you look.
The photos were all taken in my garden and in hedgerows within walking distance of my house. I'm sure there are no surprises here at all for British visitors to this blog and that all around you things are looking just the same. I hope you will forgive my self-indulgence.
First comes a great favourite of mine (and of our grandchildren), the horse chestnut or conker tree with its buds which are delightfully sticky before opening, its large leaves that unfurl so dramatically. and its distinctive stacked flower heads (not yet open in this photo).
Then there is a small hazel bush which grows in a hedgerow along the edge of our garden. I love its delicate leaves and its nuts that are much enjoyed by the squirrels that visit us through the winter.
Now, to some trees and their flowers. First of all there are the delicately green catkins of the silver birch tree with its tiny unfurling leaves which follow the catkins. They can just be seen on the twigs in this photo between the catkins.
Then comes an ornamental cherry whose leaves have a delicate orange tinge when they first appear.
And last of all, the inconspicuous orange flowers on one of the yew trees that give our house its name. ...
As I looked through a preview of this post just now, I was struck again by the range of greens that accompany the trees I've featured. What an excellent choice of colour green is for the April instalment of the rainbow challenge! There is really no way of escaping it wherever you look.
Hi Margaret- I loved the tour of your nearby trees...all so different and such a great variety of greens!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Julie. Here in southern England just now spring is a riot of greens everywhere you look. Everyday, the growth advances. This has been a late but sudden spring with warm sunshine and no rain since the beginning of April. Many a June or July is not as warm or as sunny as this. What a pleasure it is.
DeleteWhat a wonderful green haven you live in. We don't have these trees and shrubs where I live, much too hot I think.
ReplyDeleteThese are all definitely the trees of temperate regions - and common with small differences across much of Europe. The variation in the seasons is one of the great joys of this part of the world ... but I do envy you your reliable heat and no cold, grey winters.
DeleteSpring has sprung in wonderful ways in your neighborhood...what a delight to take a walk and photograph such beauties. I've never seen a horse chestnut tree...lovely leaves!
ReplyDeleteSpring always springs with drama in the UK - but I'm sure that's true in countries with a temperate climate across the world. It is just the species that differ.
DeleteAlthough not a native to this country and introduced here in the 1600s, the horse chestnut is a part of childhood for most British children, with its dramatically unfurling 'sticky buds' in spring and its conkers in autumn.
Ah Spring. It is also my very favourite season. Beautiful pictures on your post! Just now my apple tree is blooming outside my kitchen window and and the birds are everywhere checking out the real estate!! (They always think that my awnings are fair game!!) Blue skies, beautiful greens, everything unblemished....such promise!!!
ReplyDeleteAs you say, spring is a season of so much promise.! However, you in BC are well ahead of us this year. Here in the UK, there is no sign of fruit blossom just yet, though this morning we saw a blue tit heading towards the nesting box on our kitchen wall with a feather in his mouth. They nested there last year too - such fun to see the young when they appeared.
DeleteThere's nothing like English greens! A lovely range you have. Of course here, it's Autumn so we'll have more greens soon.
ReplyDeleteOur climate with its (generally) predictable rainfall and mild temperatures is great for all the grasses and the crops. They are growing furiously just now and everywhere is stunningly green. My photos are typical of the landscape everywhere we look - I love it all.
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