orchids and other flowers

Illness and the wet weather have stopped me from doing much if anything in my garden.  When we had a glorious spring day last week I walked all over my garden, appreciating the flowers that are brightening up the garden.  Hints of blossoms and bulbs as well as hellebores and cyclamens are encouraging me to get back to work.  The flowering orchids give me much pleasure.  The pale cymbidium has been flowering for over two months even though the wind broke the flower spike which I had to bandage and support with a stake.  The edges of the petals are turning brown.  I should have taken some pictures when they were looking their best.

The darker cymbidium has been with me for twenty years.  It was given to my daughter for her eighteenth birthday but I have been it's carer and had divided the original clump many times.  It is looking good even though it has been neglected.

This white orchid I bought at the garden club a few years ago and I should have noted its name.  It too survives without much support from me.

This is the time for daffodils and I have a few, only a few in the garden.

Two golden daffodils that have survived the wind and heavy rain.  The bit of pink beneath them is a cyclamen flower.

This egg and bacon wallflower comes back in spring with some help from cow manure which I had spread around some of the bushes in autumn.

This hot pink camelia is squashed by azaleas but is doing very well.  Can I say that the amount of rain we have been getting has been a great help?

These are some of the azaleas that are surrounding the camelia.  I will give them a good pruning when they finish flowering.  Another beautiful azalea is this pink one which grows in a pot.

I have been picking violets from the scattering of patches in my garden and this is just one of them.