Hello March!

And from the looks of things, or at least those things influenced by my stationery gift box, March is going to have a tropical, but pastel feel to it. If I'm honest, pastels aren't really my thing, they used to be. In the 80s they were a thing before the fluorescent trend, and I think I had my fill then. 

I loved wearing them at the time, but perhaps it was the scars from the pale pink dress I was wearing and refused entry to a nightclub I was trying to get into on Canvey of all places, that did it for me and pastels.  Nothing to do with the fact that I was way too young to be in the said nightclub, and despite being practice perfect on my fake date of birth I fluffed it when asked, no it was all to do with the pastel dress. Not even my white canvas boots helped, ah well, I'm sure I didn't really miss out...

There is so much detail in this month's Papergang box, the picture above was just the sleeve that it arrived in, sharing its Palm Springs look for anyone that cared to look.  The month card has a more prickly feel to it, the designs I mean, not the actual card as that would be wierd.

I'm learning that these are boxes that I'll just need to start using, I've a couple of weekly jotters/planners now and they are just too pretty not to use. It might seem strange but the hit with me this month was the pencil, with it's gold lettering of "Road trip plans" as that really is on my to do list, as our holiday to the States this autumn won't plan itself will it?

Palm Springs isn't on our list for that trip, but if they have pink polar bears - that is a pink polar bear right? - then maybe it could be an addition...  I've no idea where or how I'm going to use these stickers, perhaps I should be adding them to my blog notebook, which I've diligently and rather obsessively drawn squares on, just to cater to my need to tick things off a list. 

I really do have tick boxes, I just need to work on those ticks...

What do you think of the March Papergang box?  It's the second of the boxes I've shared here, I've already shared the box for February and I'm waiting for the right time to share, the final box in my gift subscription, April. All I'll say is it's a bit pink, it arrived early again and I'm already wondering if I should continue with this for another few months.

I mean, I don't need more stationery, but need doesn't really come into it with pretty stationery does it?

In my garden: February

I told you about the blue skies yesterday and today I'm showing you them. The buds on the pear tree almost look like lights waiting to glow, don't they?  While I let MOH have a go with our new leaf blower, I escaped and snapped a few pictures, and it's good to see the colour starting to reappear in the garden.

As well as the start of some Spring yellows, there's plenty of pink. These hellebores are just about visible from the house, and they've spread over the years. There was a red dot visible from the house that I was keen to investigate, and when I got close I realised it was either a very late or very early flowering geranium.  Clearly trying to steal the show from these hellebores, but its time will come.

At the very end of the garden, the camelia I bought back in 2015 has put on lots and is much bushier than it has been in previous years. There's also quite a few flower buds, so I'm hopeful there'll be a pop of white about as far away from the house as you can get. 

As is becoming tradition, I could resist a photo in my favourite corner, the sleepers have dried out a lot since I was last here, but it's still not the weather to sit down and enjoy the view. To the left, was ironically an ice plant, nestled in among the lavender.  I'm hoping it's feeling right at home, but I'll be happy for it to be slightly less cold right now please!

There was one discovery which you might have already seen, and that's my first daffodil, and there's plenty more to come. There was a suggestion on my Facebook page that I cut it and pop it in a vase before the snow comes. That did cross my mind, but I couldn't quite bring myself to cut it, although daffs in the house should be obligatory.  Once I start buying those bunches that haven't even thought about opening, they become kind of addictive and our dining table, and plenty of other surfaces, are rarely seen unadorned.

As I headed back down the garden the fatsia caught my eye, the flowers looked particularly sputnik-like, and as I got close up (as I do) I spotted the picture I really wanted to get.  I can't decided if they're dancing in the sun, or if the leaf on the left is tickling them, either way I love this photo!

But then again I love the fatsia and am a total convert. Every garden I have from now on will most definitely be having its own fatsia. 

I'm also hoping for some slightly warmer weather, as well as the obvious reasons, I also want to get started sowing some seeds, and I'm hoping that I won't need to head out into a snow-filled garden to clear snow off of the greenhouse roof, which has to be my least favourite gardening job! 

A quiet blow for my leaves

Brrrr... It's a tad on the cold side right now isn't it? I know I was tempting fate by anticipating wind this weekend, but I didn't necessarily need, or want, the cold weather to accompany it. But at least it was dry. And the skies were blue. But still it was cold.  My two concrete hares in the garden looked as if they were quite enjoying their blanket of leaves, but we were keen to get the leaves off of the slate.

There was also a pile of leaves gathering along the fence, and while the euphorbias (and weeds) are valiantly doing there best to grow through the leaves, I'm not sure they're doing the patio much good.  That really eaten and and almost lacy set of leaves belong to a weed, with no doubt a huge tap root. I'm not sure what's eating it, but it's having a pretty good go isn't it?

But first, leaf duties

Wellies on, gloves on, blower at the ready and I was set. I was expecting my new Stihl BGA 56 Blower to be quiet, but I wasn't expecting quite so much power from this lightweight and relatively small garden tool.

My plan was to blow the leaves into orderly piles, and that generally worked, but the grass also got a bit of a blow and it gave the impression that it was clinging on for dear life.  All the grass stayed in place, of course, but it was noticeably moved. 

Once the leaves were in piles, they were quickly bagged and set aside to do their thing, and provide fantastic leaf mould in a year or two.  Where this blower will come in handy will be retrieving leaves from our flower beds, as you can see from the photo below I've been giving the leaves fair warning!

It was still chilly though out there - the joys of having a north facing garden - even though we were wrapped up and with glimpses of sun there were only short bursts of work. We've still leaves to collect - mostly in the flowerbeds now.  If the snow takes hold as the forecasters would have us believe, they might have another week's grace.

But parts of the garden are looking much less leaf covered, and smarter for it too. We know there's little chance of us capturing every single leaf in the garden, so it'll be a bit of an ongoing project. But one that's a whole lot more fun - and productive - than doing it by hand!

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.