I've noticed it more and more lately, and it's been a joy. Yes, I'm talking about birdsong. It could be, just could be that Spring is starting to take hold of the more wintery days and the birds feel it too. I've been out in my garden this weekend checking on the bird feeders and topping up the fat ball supply. We've one on the trellis close to the house and it's great to see the small birds almost queue up to take their turn at it.

The other thing I've spotted is there seems to be more birds around on homewares too. Maybe all the birdsong has been getting to me, who knows?

I've been looking at Love the Sales and there's a plethora, or perhaps that should be a flock, of bird items available in the Home & Garden section. So if you're rather partial to a parrot, hankering for a heron or have a requirement for a redshank - ok, I'll stop - it's definitely worth a look.

I'm quite taken with these bird planters from India Jane, I think they're just the type of planter that would sit quite happily in our conservatory, and be quite versatile little pots, they're just 16cm high. At times, I might even put some herbs in them, or some pine cones, or one of those column candles. Actually instead of a candle they'd be great with some of those battery fairy lights in, and would be great to bring an unusual light source to outside dining, but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself as I think it may be a while before we're dining al fresco, don't you?

Tweet tweet little birds by lifeat139a on Polyvore

And the blue and yellow bird, how cute is that? It's a quail - also from India Jane - and is a box, the top of its body lifts off and reveals a hidden storage space. Just the sort of space where I'd put something for safekeeping and promptly forget about, then find months later (if I'm lucky, if not years) and wonder how on earth I could be so daft as not to look in the perfect hiding place.

You have those kinds of spaces too, right?

* Via Love the Sales

Now that the evenings are getting lighter (yay!) and Spring bulbs are bringing colour to parks and gardens, I'm starting to be tempted out into the garden again. I've shared the plans I have for our allotment and my seed order is being finalised, but what about my garden?

I've mentioned before that our garden is a mature one, with lots of shrubs and so it's predominantly green. The challenge I have is to introduce colour to keep MOH from wanting to rip the whole garden out and start again. But because the trees and shrubs are large traditional bedding plants aren't always that successful, and let's be honest sometimes they have that municipal feel, don't they?

I've found though that pots are a great way to introduce colour, as not only can you control the soil (and not dig into a tree root) grouped together they can bring height and interest into the garden.

And the pots don't have to be boring either. Just look at these, which are just a selection of the new range from Cox and Cox:

BIRCH EFFECT PLANTERS, PHOTO CREDIT COX & COX

RUSTY NESTING PLANTERS, PHOTO CREDIT COX & COX

The three above aren't quite what they seem either. They're not stone as you might think, but fibreglass so they'll be easy to move around the garden, even when they're planted. The finish of these emulates silver birch, and I like the texture and age that gives.

GALVANISED FLUTED TROUGH, PHOTO CREDIT COX & COX

Or there's the rusty planters, aren't they a gorgeous colour? For me they also prove that a simple design is a winner too.

Troughs to edge a path

I have a small path alongside my greenhouse and I've been on the lookout for some low-level planters to help soften the edges of greenhouse. But I don't want something so big that it blocks the light to my seeds and plants busily trying to grow in there.

My plan is to grow herbs here so when I brush past I'll catch their scent. Again I'm drawn to the simple design of this zinc trough. They'd look equally good with cheery spring bulbs in too, and as window boxes.

AGED ZINC MILK CHURN, PHOTO CREDIT COX & COX

Definitely not boring

Remember that I said your planters didn't need to be boring?

Well, how about a milk churn - I think it'd look great with some cheery daffodils sprouting from the top.

It'd certainly bring a smile to my face. Although it's too late to plant Spring bulbs now - usually I plant mine in the autumn using the lasagne approach - it's not too late to add some Spring colour to your garden.

You can pick up ready grown bulbs relatively cheaply in the supermarkets and garden centres. My bargain hyacinth last week cost just £1.49.

Or you could think a little further ahead and plan some fabulous summer displays.

AGED METAL BIRD CAGES, PHOTO CREDIT COX & COX

And just because...

I couldn't resist sharing these metal bird cages, while they're not planters as such they're definitely on my wish list. I know though I'll have a job to convince MOH we need them.

Sigh.

His argument, after the what are we going to do with those, would be where would we put them? And he'd have a point. I'd love to say in the conservatory, and to have that kind of conservatory. You know the airy sort that you see in stately homes?

Our conservatory has a little way to go - we're currently using ours as a bike store and general dumping area, so it's a campaign I'll leave until I'm on stronger ground.

But who knows, maybe one day...

This is is a collaborative post with Cox and Cox, but all opinions are my own