Catch It While You Can!

Spring, spring, spring! The weather has been consistently much more mild the past few days and coupled with such a sunny weekend you can't help but feel that spring is definitely here. And the length of daylight is steadily increasing too so you find yourself having more opportunity to do some gardening and undertake some preparation for the coming growing season. Exciting times ahead!
And with this excitement it's easy enough to be too preoccupied with thoughts of what needs to be done that it's easy enough to miss what's currently looking good in the garden.
I often find myself in this situation, that I get so focused on the things that I want to do in the garden that I miss out on fleeting moments of beauty. So walking around the garden today and noticing a few plants flowering and looking wonderful I immediately went back in the house and grabbed the camera so I can take their photos before I miss the chance of capturing their beauty once again. 

Illicium simonsii

Illicium simonsii

I love the understated and creamy yellow flowers of this plant and the scent is absolutely heavenly! Before I saw it flowering I first noticed the sweet scent wafting in the air and immediately thought that it must be coming from this wonderful plant. The photos above are from my spare plant that has done well in a pot and has sailed through fine outside last winter. I have another one planted out and that has done very well too, although the flowers are yet to open. And that's a good thing as I will get another chance to enjoy its pretty flowers and wonderful scent.

Bee on a Crocus

Our white crocuses are still flowering away although in a a day or two they will start to fade away. But the bumblebees have been feasting on their sweet nectar this morning and it was endearing to see these insects today.

Chrysosplenium macrophyllum

Chrysosplenium macrophyllum

This shade loving, ground cover plant looks so exotic with it's attractive and relatively large foliage and fits in so well in our jungle area, associating well with ferns and other leafy understory plants. The leaves look great in spring and summer although it tends to look a bit scruffy in the winter but it makes up for it by pretty and curious blooms in early spring. What's great about the flowers is that they stay looking good for a long time too. This plant has been in flower for two weeks now and thankfully they still looked great when I actually had the chance to photograph them.
I think from now on, everytime I step out in the garden I must make a habit of keeping the camera in tow too so I can capture fleeting moments of beauty the moment I see them. And with spring being here there will be lots of them in the next few weeks, I'll be spoilt for choice.
Oh yes, I have to tidy up too :-)
Mark