Colour

I have been enjoying colour in different forms over the last few days.  Above can be seen some coloured quartz beads which I couldn't resist sorting.  (I'm the same with coloured pencils - I have a tin of Caran D'Ache watercolour pencils which my Dad bought me many years ago and I have to sort them periodically!  Oh, and there's embroidery thread which has to be wrapped round a plastic card and then colour sorted too).

 The garden is starting to show its early summer colour with pastel lilacs and purples.  Clematis Crystal Fountain above has fully opened...

...and Clematis Arabella is just starting to flower.

This is the very exciting news - well, it is exciting if you are like me.  You may remember me saying I had bought two patio peonies and they are now just about to flower!  Above is 'Madrid', which initially looked as though it was going to have a pink flower and that bothered me a bit as I thought it wasn't the right variety, but was tricking me, because I can see the white petals peeping through in the bud.

 Here is peony 'Athens' which is tantalisingly close to opening fully.  I go out to look at it every morning, and each time it is a tiny bit further on, but still not quite there.

Look, you can almost see the golden centre.  Another day or two and it should be open.  It is a good lesson in being patient.