Wild flowers perhaps?

At Christmas a friend of ours who lives in Massachusetts sent us, as a present, a packet of New England wildflowers.

seed packet

It contained a mix of 12 annuals and perennials: Colombine, Butterfly, Lupine, Firewheel, Primrose, Bluebell, Paintbrush, Aster, Poppy, Snapdragon, Cosmos and Dames Rocket.

better half setting up his scarecrow

Last week when the weather suddenly turned nice and sunny Niall decided it was time for the wildflowers to be sown. Taking out 3 very large overgrown hazel bushes last autumn left us with a clear patch on the south side of the house. In November we planted 4 small fruit trees in this space and seeded grass on part of it but there was still a reasonable bare area so Niall just raked it over lightly, scattered the seeds, raked them in and watered them. Oh yes...and set up a scarecrow....

sartorial elegance

 You'll notice the said scarecrow's sartorial elegance:  'sans coulottes', but somewhat 'a la mode' in a 2010 Sport Aid T-shirt and a "bunnet".

cherry from garden

The seeded area is being watered every morning and we'll see if we get a result....

Meanwhile today I've been sorting out some deadwood in one of our lilac bushes and took off a half split cherry branch. As the buds are pretty fat I've put the twigs in water and hopefully they'll flower indoors.

P.S. about 6pm we heard the 1st cuckoo