EASTER YELLOW
The start of new beginnings - (and boy do we all need a bit of that!) with the sun giving us the odd cheery day and jolly yellow primroses raising their little smiley heads upwards.
The wild natural ones are by far the softest and seem to generate a simple joyous air whether peeping up through your lawn or along verges. They are an absolute delight when you fall across great swathes of them through woodland on country walks. According to 'Gardeners World' “The primrose, Primula vulgaris, is one of the most familiar signs of spring.
Typically found in woodlands and beneath hedgerows, it thrives in damp shade in a variety of situations. It provides an early source of nectar and pollen for bees and other pollinators.” What is not to like!!
The caption goes on to say - “Primula vulgaris associates particularly well with daffodils, which flower at the same time.”
So there you have it. 
This little one here growing up between the path and brickwork at home - shows these plants can thrive in adversity - which we can all relate to in this past year of the pandemic.
Having just bought a property to accommodate my Mum along with our 12 year old son and long suffering husband - we have been under strict instruction by the household’s ‘Nonagenerian’ to create a primrose bank. Our lawn seems to be littered with them - so the digging begins!!
I’ve also noticed that the beautiful wild Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) is also thriving along the lanes locally - sadly stopping just as our garden hedgerow begins. We have missed the boat this Spring to plant up wild daffodil bulbs, but will be out there with the spade at the ready for next Spring.
The cultivated ones seem brash in comparison but nothing is more cheery than a big bunch of bright yellow daffodils on the kitchen table. According to 'Wildlife Garden Project' - “Daffodils are probably one of our best-known woodland plants, bringing a wash of yellow to a cold, grey spring morning. Even though we see lots of daffs in spring, the majority are a cultivated form and not our little native perennial. Sadly now our wild daff only occurs in a fragment of its former range, with its strongholds being in Wales and a few English woodlands “. Thankfully a number of those English native daff-filled woodlands happen to be on our doorstep here in West Gloucestershire and they really are a joy to behold. The area surrounding Dymock in particular are of national importance and on any normal year hold daffodil weekends. It’s easy to see why the 6 poets associated with Dymock found inspiration here - 'Dymock Poets'.
In order to encourage further proliferation of these little gems - we plan to turn over a small section of our garden to wildflowers and will be including these in the mix. For now - the greedy picking of the cultivated varieties are a bunch of happiness and will look wonderful in the house.
I even found some wild ones this morning jogging over May Hill - and "yes, the magic trousers are flexible enough to jog in!" And "no they are not too bright" (despite my husbands raised eyebrows!!). According to “40 + Style” - “Floral pants are still on trend” and they have a mantra which I totally buy in to “as you get older, you need to get wilder”. They also confirm that “floral pants are a lot of fun”. They have found some great examples of 40+ women looking fabulous in the latest trend of floral pants. The trick is to combine them with a plain coloured simple top as shown below. So go on be bold and brave and cheer yourself up for Spring.
