Life’s very busy lately; loads to do in garden but also other things. Bit like the garden itself in spring when suddenly everything is madly growing and blossoming, so that where there was space and order, there is now a gorgeous profusion of flowers, new growth on the shrubs and perennials – maybe don’t push analogy, life’s just messily crowded.

But remembering “a poor life this, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare”, have been doing some standing and staring. Hope it slows things down a bit.

Particularly soothing have been the primroses, the wild ones especially. Mine come from Devon (hope I don’t get arrested for confessing this, but in fact I’ve really aided conservation – they’re spreading very happily) and so as well as being the loveliest of flowers, they’re a reminder of home. Also got several other primroses of various origins, shapes and sizes. Primula are a large family who inter-marry very readily, and if you let them, will fling progeny all over the place. Bed on patio, ex-rockery, has about twenty different primroses, none of which I planted – beautiful, and free! There’s all sorts of variations in shape and colour – one in particular is really beautiful, very slim dark stems, flowers of pinky-yellow with darker reverse that gives the most delicate outline to the petals.

Many other sights to stare at include snake’s head fritillaries in the wild garden that have multiplied very gratifyingly; beautiful to look at individually, such unlikely exotic markings for an English wild flower. And then there’s the magnolias, the forget-me-nots, pear blossom, snowflakes (Leucojum), pheasant’s eye daffodils, lots of lovely things. And the Saruma bought at Harrogate has settled down and is already twice the size, flowering nicely.

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