The grass is growing, the fields are losing that dirty mud colour as fresh crops start pushing upwards, and the trees are rapidly turning green – you know that fresh lime green of sycamores that stands out so dramatically against a blue sky?
Talking of blue, my Grape Hyacinths are looking exceptionally good this spring, having spread everywhere I look. Plenty for a vase for Cathy’s Monday meme.
In fact, there are quite a few white ones too, as well as the pale blue Muscari ‘Peppermint’ which I especially love.
But not only the Muscari are enjoying the unusually warm temperatures this April, with the odd shower and cool nights as refreshment…
A jar of joy!
Tulips, daffodils, pulmonaria, cowslips, mahonia, snowflakes, hyacinths…
I must also show you a photo I took on our outdoor table so you can see what the rain brought with it – no, not pollen, but Sahara sand!
Thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for hosting this meme… I am late posting today, but am always glad if I have the time to join in! 🙂
Oh your weather sounds perfect…..the complete opposite of ours….it was wonderful to see your vases!
It is certainly good for working outdoors at the moment Donna. Hope your weekend is a warmer one!
SAND?!? That is crazy. Your vase is sweet with all of those early spring blooms. Happy IAVOM.
We do occasionally get the sand blowing over this way Lisa! It makes the sunsets look prettier too! 😉
I love your “jar of joy” 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Dust from the Sahara – imagine that! (Biome inoculation. 😉 ) Your grass looks so green! We’re still waiting for things to grow. It’s all under a new 2″ blanket of icy snow. (sigh)
Love your vase of joy – spring lifts the heart, for sure. Have a great week!
The Sahara dust does occasionally come our way Eliza – makes such a mess if it rains down! I believe a couple of European airports had to close temporarily last week because visibility was so poor! LOL!
Love those muscari and all the blooms in the jar of joy. Pretty weird about the Sahara sand.
Thanks Susie. We get the sand blowing over at least once a year these days. I have even seen it in the UK in the past. 😉
Gorgeous flowers! Can’t wait to see more of them out in nature after such a long winter! I appreciate your photos.
Thanks Chrissy! Hope your spring is on the way!
You’re welcome! 😊 Spring is almost here! It’s actually warmer today.
Sahara sand? I can hardly believe that, Cathy! I’m amazed. Thank you for sharing that little wonder. And I’m think that each of your vases could be called “jars of joy!” They really are. I cannot imagine having so many hyacinths you can actually think of them as cutting flowers. I’m as green with envy as your grass. 🙂
😉 The sand seems to have become a regular occurrence in recent years and I think we now get it blowing our way at least once a year. Is that what you call soil erosion?! 😉
It sounds so exotic! I find it so interesting. 🙂
Oh, I’m so happy that your weather is so pleasant! Ours is not, but I know it will be soon. That is so interesting that the rain carries sand from the Sahara to you. Such pretty floral arrangements that give me hope. Thank you!
Wishing you a warm weekend with some spring sunshine Beth!
So full of spring! 🙂 They are lovely, Cathy!
Thanks Amy! 🙂
The trees have that fabulous green haze about them here too Cathy. I like your muscari and have made a note of that attractive ice blue ‘Peppermint’. ‘A jar of joy’ is a most apt description for your second vase. I wonder whether the Saharan sand drifted across the Channel this time.
The sand seems to come our way more and more frequently, don’t you think! The trees seem to be doing nightshifts and every morning I see even more green. The blackthorn came out one afternoon last week while I was gardening and I actually gasped when I looked up and there it was!
What a pretty collection of flowers…I love those spring colors!
Thank you Marian!
Lovely spring time vase. So the sand reached you too. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
We do get the sand fairly regularly here, but usually later in the year. It makes a stormy sky look quite threatening!
Such a bountiful bouquet. We get Sahara sand all the way over here on the Texas Gulf Coast, not to mention the hurricanes that start on the African coast.
Wow, you get the sand too?! I can understand that if you get weather systems from Africa. We often get the tail end of hurricanes from North America that go out into the Atlantic and then turn down across the UK and northern Europe.
They just started including the sand as part of the weather report. I think it is quite thin when it reaches us. The earth is so interconnected. I love blogging with other gardeners around the world to see the weather and growing seasons.
Oh, my goodness! Nothing in Maine yet. Spring is so slow this year.
Hope your weekend is warmer Laurie!
Me, too!!!!
Cathy, your climate is fantastic: keep it going. Your green grass is precious. Your vase of white and pale blue Muscaris I love: and more if you have many in the garden. The Alegría vase is that: Joy and Spring in colors. All the flowers are beautiful, all. It is a magnificent vase. It has rained down the land of the Sahara as Christina has: how far it has come. Climate Change is taking its toll. With our gardens we propose to return to Mother Earth what we have taken from her: places where plants and trees thrive in a natural way and that are a refuge for butterflies, bees and small mammals and birds. Cathy forgives these phrases, but they come from my heart. And I think you share them. If not, my most sincere apologies. Have a good week. Greetings from Margarita
Thank you Margarita, and I do share your thoughts. I always have the insects and butterflies on my mind, and the birds too. 🙂
Cathy sensed that we thought the same way about that aspect. I’m glad. 🙂 🙂 Have a very happy week. Greetings from Margarita.
The scale of your vases had a curious effect today, Cathy, as even though I could see they were place on your (very green!) grass they looked much bigger than they presumably were. They bothe shout “Spring!”, don’t they? We get desert sand too sometimes, although not this time round
🙂 The background can really make a difference to the overall impression! Yes, yellow is definitely the colour of spring. I saw a white Forsythia recently and although very pretty it just didn’t have the same effect on me as the yellow one!
I can see why, Cathy – the yellow one shouts ‘spring’, but a white one wouldn’t dream of shouting anything 😉
Happy spring, we get the sand,too. weird.Maybe that is what ties us all together. Love the bountiful vases.
Isn’t it strange that the sand seems to get everywhere, just like when you go to the beach! LOL!
Yes, and we have plenty already.
Hallo Cathy, the thing with the sahara sand we had here in Berlin too. Your vase with the Muscaris I leke so much, especially the Muscari ‘Peppermint’.
Thanks for your nice comment in my blog.
Greetings from Theresa and I wish you a nice week.
Hello Theresa. Yes, Peppermint Muscari adds nice variety to the pure blues or whites. Thanks for visiting here too! 🙂
So pretty I can not wait for mine to arrive 🙂
Hopefully soon! 🙂
I am still vicariously experiencing spring through your posts! So lovely! 🙂 Fortunately, it seems that the big melt is on here…finally!
Thank goodness! I can never quite believe just how long your winters are. Hope it warms up quickly Sheryl! 🙂
Both arrangements are delightful. I love Muscari, and the second arrangement looks like it should be singing a song of spring.
Ah, a lovely thought! 🙂 Thanks Jason!
Sahara sand! Oh my goodness that’s really something. I liked seeing your table, sound or no as it seemed possible, just for a second, that I might sit down with you for a cuppa and a good garden chat. I’m so happy spring is showing her happy colors, Cathy.
Aah, that would be so nice! I would bake a cake for the occasion! 😉 🍰
We must meet one day, Cathy! I would absolutely love that.