Sunday Safari
Saturday turned out to be a nice day after the poor forecast earlier in the week; cloudy at times but also relatively warm and sunny. My day was largely taken up with having my haircut, but I did manage to do some small jobs around the garden such as cutting things back and tidying up.
Saturday night, sometime in the small hours I woke up to the sound of heavy rain. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve heard rain quite so torrential as that! It’s stopped now, but still grey and no doubt too wet outside to do much.
I imagine it’s scuppered many plans for people as today is Mothering Sunday in the UK; no nice walks around local parks!
So I’ll leave you with the photos, as I have to get ready to take my mum out for a meal 
N.B Sadly it looks like my Autumn Cherry won’t be producing a second, spring flush 
I’d have rather it bloomed now than over winter if I’m honest, as at least the weather now allows me to appreciate the blooms more!
Copyright 2011 Liz.
All rights reserved. Content created by Liz for Gwirrel’s Garden.
Very nice pictures.
Hi,
Thanks very much
Enjoy your meal with Mum Liz….I am sure she will appreciate it
We had rain for most of yesterday….gentle rain. Brilliant sunshine today.
I agree, it can be frustrating when a plant, shrub or tree does not bloom when it should…..perhaps next year
I have lost most of my cherry blossom buds to Bullfinch…….oh well, at least they had a feast, and they are everyso pretty birds.
Love your muscari….think I have said that before.
Hi Cheryl,
I was surprised that the rain had dried by the time I got home… I thought everything would stay damp most of the day… Guess it shows how much it needed the rain?? So when we got out we sat out in the sun for a while and listened to the birds (behind us). Was certain I heard a Bullfinch calling and then later on once we came back in sure enough I saw one on the feeders so it looks like we might be having fairly regular visits at the moment – from past experience it’s from a number of pairs and not just the same ones every hour or so.
Normally when this autumn cherry blooms over autumn and winter, we then get another flush in spring. But I have very few buds/blooms at the moment and the leaves are coming out. So unless it’ll bloom when the leaves are there, then I’m thinking I won’t get another show. This time last year it was looking stunning! But then it also didn’t bloom in autumn. Mmmmmm. At least I have the Dwarf Almond to look forward to in the next week or two as its buds are opening now as is the Magnolia Stellata.
As always stunning pictures…Torrential rain TH night and Fri left my garden a soggy mess. Hopefully today the ground will be dry enough to garden and plant some early veggies…have a wonderful day Liz!
Hi Donna,
Surprisingly things were quite dry here today by afternoon, I guess the ground really needed the water???!!
I didn’t attempt any gardening though, but really I do need to get some work done. Hope to mow the lawns next weekend if it stays dry during the week and trim the hedge a little – no birds nest in it, it’s too small still.
Hope you had a lovely weekend!
It’s awesome…Really nice collection.
Hi,
Thanks, glad you enjoyed them.
Yeah, i enjoyed them. Do share more.
BEAUTIFUL shots, we had a wee bit of rain last night and i am so grateful. I hope you are having a lovely lunch with your Mum, what a super idea.. c
Hi,
After having so little rain for months now, it was probably a good thing that we had the downpour… It was cleared by morning though and by afternoon everything dry again so I think it was soaked up very fast!
The lunch was very nice; caesar salad – nyum!
Hope you had a super lunch with your Mum, we celebrated yesterday so today I cooked my own lunch! While we were eating it we had sleet and hail, but now back to sunshine once more! Lovely photos of your flowers, the bullfinches usually eat our Amelanchier buds, they’re forgiven as they are so beautiful!
Hi Pauline,
I realised after that I really ought to have cooked for my mum… Normally I do but for some reason forgot this year!
Mind, it’s usually because my parents are still building their house and have no real kitchen, however now they do have a kitchen, and a large one at that! So mum can now properly cook (although they do still seem to be mainly using the utility room for all prepation, making tea etc???)
Thankfully I don’t tend to see the Bullies in the cherries; they head straight for the sunflower hearts and munch their merry way
But yes they are beautiful birds and I’m so pleased they visit as I realise not many are as fortunate as I am.
As always Liz, I am bowled over by your wonderful and clever photos. I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day lunch with your Mum. I am visiting my Mum at tea-time. xx
Hi Ronnie,
Thanks
I hope you enjoyed your mother’s day too! Ours was quite nice, with yummy food and for once I didn’t come away overly stuffed!
Great photos. We’ve had rain but fortunately mainly at night. Hope you’ve had a lovely day with your mum.
Hi,
Same here; no day wasted with rain thankfully! Seems I was the only one I know that was woken by the heavy rain… No one at work noticed, nor my family. I know I wasn’t imagining it as I was looking out of the window and watching it flood down the street.
So, so pretty! Your photos are just magical, I look forward to them always.
Hi Kt,
Thanks
Keep an eye out for the next lot in the coming days – haven’t decided when I’ll publish the post yet!
Beautiful photos Liz. No rain to speak of here still, just dull,dull,dull!
Hope you had a lovely meal with your Mum.
Hi Jan,
I’m just glad we had the rain overnight, shame it woke me up though… We don’t often get rain on our bedroom windows, so it must’ve been blowing from an unusual direction…
The meal was very nice, had a very nice caesar salad… Mmmm me wants more now!
beautiful collection and photographs!
Hi,
Thanks very much; glad you enjoyed them.
Pretty blooms. Hope you had a great time with your Mother. We are looking for rain here – hope it’s not hard like yours was!
Hi,
It’s been such a long time since we last had really heavy rain like that; I’m just glad it came at night and not during the day! Although it isn’t so good for the plants and ground as it cannot soak it all up like if it were steady drizzle.
Liz, your macros are always stunning. God bless your storm, I’m still under a drought spell
I love the way you associate colours when showing pictures.
Hi Alberto,
Many areas here are also in drought conditions, so the rain was very much welcomed – even if it did ruin my plans to cut the lawn! I think this week will again be dry and mainly mild so hopefully I’ll be able to mow next weekend.
OMG…that sultry purple Anemone is AMAZING!
Hi Scott,
It’s a shame I have so few of them survive… Never bothered to plant any more after the first go but now I’m beginning to think perhaps I ought to! There was an amazingly stunning purple one too that didn’t survive more than the one year.
Beautiful photos as always Liz. We had the same torrential downpour on Saturday night which also woke me up. We needed the wet stuff though and it did brighten up by the afternoon. Come to think of it my autumn flowering cherry has not had that second flush either. Will have to inspect it carefully tomorrow. Hope that you enjoyed your meal.
Hi Anna,
Yay! Someone else who actually heard the rain too!
So glad to know I wasn’t imagining it for once… It was just odd because I wouldn’t normally hear it, but I woke up and eventually realised I could hear the rumbling of it hitting the roof, so I looked outside and sure enough. Then later the wind must’ve changed direction or picked up and it was hitting our bedroom windows. We needed the rain here too, and many plants have really put on a growth spurt since 
Shame about the autumn Cherry! Strange isn’t it, as I wouldn’t say mine even had the big show it would normally put on when it blooms again in spring…
Oh well, I can look at photos from previous years! hee hee.
There are a few buds on mine and the odd bloom, but not what I’d expect by now.