Buds and Blooms

After lying dormant for so long during the Winter, the plants in the garden always seem to be in a hurry when Spring finally arrives. You almost feel as if you can see them grow. One minute the garden is dull and gray and the next there are buds, leaves and flowers all over the place. Last week the fruit trees showed few signs of life, yet now the buds are bursting left, right and centre:


Apple "Scrumptious"

Having been very careful with the pruning this year, I really think I deserve a decent fruit crop this year, don't you? 

Pear "Conference"


Along the line of the fence, beneath the fruit trees, new Raspberry canes are shooting up in profusion.


Raspberry "Autumn Bliss"


Th flower spikes on this Aquilegia appear to have grown six inches in as many days:

The Snakeshead Fritillaries have buds now:

Last year when the Fritillaries had finished flowering I deliberately scattered their seeds all over the area round about, and these are germinating in droves now. The little green shoots look rather like onions...
My "reluctant" Hellebore is still playing hard to get. It has put up several fresh new leaves, but those buds still refuse to open.

It is a "Helleborus Orientalis Red Spotted Hybrid", which has very attractive flowers - though I suspect I won't get to see any of them until next year at least!
One of my Rosemary plants is covered in a mass of delicate pale blue flowers:

This one is growing in a pot. The other plants, which I pruned so severely a couple of weeks ago can hardly be expected to flower just now. I can't really blame them if they decide to have a bit of a sulk!
There's not much to be seen in the veg-patch just now. It's mostly seeds in the ground, and tiny seedlings in pots in the mini-greenhouses, but I think this one qualifies in the "Buds and Blooms" category all right:


PSB: "Red Arrow"