Springing

In the week and a half during which I was in France, our back garden has started to take off.  We got back to find the grass ankle-high (in tufts), bright green leaves (with spots of darker green aphids) on the apple tree, and one or two snail-nibbled pansies bravely poking up a yellow or purple face.  The winter-flowering clematis, which apparently died shortly after I put it in the ground a year ago and which hadn’t been removed only because of sheer laziness on the part of yours truly, has shot up and is twining around the lower reaches of the arbor, next to the suddenly-much-bushier jasmine.  The passionflower is still looking rather sad - I think the winter was too cold for it - but the one remaining poppy looks set to put forth two or three flowerbuds this year, as opposed to the single one from last year.  The rosemary is blooming, and most of the lavender is lovely and bushy.  The mint is leggy and decrepit, but I’m hoping that a good trim will help it recover itself. 

Indoors, my heirloom pepper plants are popping buds, so perhaps I’ll get a few more peppers this year.  The orchid, which bloomed so beautifully for most of the months of December and January, has regrouped and started another flower stalk; it will probably bloom within a week or two.  The Madagascar jasmine has extended a growing shoot at the end of its vine, although there isn’t any sign of flowers.  The cacti have finally stopped blooming, the ficus is bushy and green, and the remnants of the basil plant I bought to make pesto with are blooming as well.  The two remaining African violets are looking a little peaky, but that will probably be fixed once I get around to repotting them.  The three bouquets of cut flowers I got for my birthday are still going strong, in particular the white lillies that Alex gave me, which have filled the living room with their lovely scent.  All in all, it’s very springy around here.  :-)