As much as I enjoyed our trip down South, it is always great to be back in your own place.  We arrived home late and so I was unable to see what was going on in the garden.  How lovely the next day to be greeted by my witch hazel (hamamelis)* in full bloom.  This is one of the first small trees/shrub to bloom in early Spring.  I know it is not very interesting once it has bloomed but it is so lovely to see the flowers and smell the fragrance when everything else in the garden is dormant.  

One of my hellebores is still in bud but when I ventured to the vegetable garden where I had stored plants for my daughter, what a delight to see the white hellebore in full bloom.   These have proved to be very winter hardy plants.  

These past few weeks I just had to bring Spring into the home.  I noticed outside that my forsythia* bush is just coming into bud.  It needed a prune so some of the small branches I brought into the house and placed in a vase in warm, tepid water.  Already I can see that the buds are just about to burst open.  At this time of the year in nurseries and gardening centres, you will find potted bulbs. Yesterday when I was in town I popped into Home Depot and bought a selection of crocuses, miniature daffodils and white tulips.  I found a suitable container and placed it on the dining room table.  I have had fun taking photos of them using different shutter speeds and settings on my camera and have captured the flowers unfurling.   The flowering container has also cheered up the dining room area.  

*Further detail regarding these shrubs/trees under “Shrub Tab”.