Pre-Spring - Yellow Time

A walk around the garden this morning in glorious sunshine after the fog had lifted, showed me that pre-spring is really here. This season is something that gardeners are only just beginning to recognise. Instead of saying each year "oh aren't the wattles out early" we have begun to realise that our seasons aren't strictly in accordance with the four seasons found in Europe. The period of pre-spring starts in late July for me and lasts about 4 to 5 weeks - about as long as the daffodils are in bloom. It also seems to be a peculiarly yellow time of the year as you can see by my photos! The first photo is of a yellow wallflower Erysimum sp. which flowers prolifically for me, then goes steadily downhill as the moisture runs out. The second is of a yellow daisy called Euryops sp. that has struggled valiantly in a dry spot for over a decade. The third photo is of the daffodils planted beside the fence around the vegetable garden and the fourth photo is of a magnificent wattle called Acacia adunca which is literally smothered with blossom at the moment. Other yellow flowering plants I spotted include the aeoniums with their cone shaped flower heads, the mahonia, a tagetes still going since autumn and the forysthia is about to burst into bloom very soon. A very sunny time of the year indeed!

How exciting - I'm not the only one to discuss our incongruous seasons. I've just discovered Tim Entwisle blogged about this topic only yesterday at his blog:- talkingplants.blogspot.com