There’s a lovely line by Dan Pearson in today’s Observer.
“I make a mental note of plants to greet the bees. Like them I want to feel that the spell of winter is broken, to know that growth is on our side.”
Having woken to another covering of snow this morning the spell of winter could certainly do with being shattered. Dan’s piece is illustrated by photographs of hamamelis, primrose and celandine, all of them that single tone of yellow that has to serve as substitute sunlight in the garden. It’s a shade of yellow that might seem vulgar at other times of the year; there are subtler tones of yellow and indeed the white narcissi, Thalia being a particular favourite, but the classic daffodil yellow hits the mark like no other.
Before the onset of bluebell blue there is an interim period of woodland white to seek out, with both wood anemone and wood sorrel filling that gap and the richest purple of wild violets to scrabble around under hedges in the course of seeking out.
