Tackling the Jungle

I booked some time off work recently and was lucky enough to get some sunshine to go with it! I've been making some big alterations in the garden and house, so it's been perfect for getting outside and topping up the Vitamin D ;-)

 I've had a lovely buddleia in my garden for some years now, and have let it grow from what should have been a large shrub into a huge tree due to not pruning it back hard enough. I decided to cut it right back this year to hopefully rejuvenate it - these are some of the branches waiting to be cleared away! You can see the trees on the right hand side were getting pushed away and mis-shapen so it will give them some much needed space too :)

This white potentilla was planted in front of the buddleia and has never really done much - but already the difference is amazing, it's really starting to thrive!

And after all that hard work? Homemade tzatziki and bbq kebabs... ;-)

Azurite Flower

I did a bit of pottering in the garden at the weekend in some unexpectedly warm spring sunshine - it's nice to see some colour appearing, especially in my rather unkempt plot which has been sadly neglected in terms of planting!

This first picture is of a beautiful purple/blue periwinkle flower, or 'vinca major' to give it it's latin name. It holds a special charm for me - when I was a child we moved from the city to a small rural village, and the cottage we lived in was called 'vinca' as the garden was full of these pretty flowers. They make great ground-cover plants, the variety I have has variegated leaves.

I also spotted these lovely pink scented hyacinths in a pot that I'd forgotten about!
I've been creating again too - the sterling silver flower on this necklace has been set with a fresh blue/green azurite cabochon, and hangs on a pretty oval link chain. More pictures on Etsy - Amari Jewellery