A Beautiful Day

Today is a beautiful day – warm and sunny, with dappled light through the trees and a gentle breeze stirring the foliage. The sights and scents of my garden remind me that Summer is almost here. The bees hum as they move among the flowers and there is a general atmosphere of peace and tranquility. Never mind that there is still so much work to be done to tend the vegetable and fruit crops and keep the flower beds looking attractive – today is a time for enjoying the garden. The work can wait until another day.

 In late Spring and Summer, my workshop becomes increasingly difficult to access, as the roses and other shrubs spread themselves over the path and encroach on the doorway.

 These are my woad plants from last year, flowering and preparing to produce the seeds for next year. On the ground below these plants, this year’s seedlings are growing and developing the dye potential for dye vats later in the year.

These are the leafy tops of my madder plants, giving no hint of the amazing colour potential of the roots beneath. Madder cannot be described as an attractive plant but, to me, its qualities as a dye plant amply compensate for all its disadvantages as a garden plant.