On 9 Jan, the day we moved in, I took a panorama photo of the garden. I’m taking another panorama each month on the same date to track progress.

Here’s April vs March:

There is so much more colour now! The sky is bluer, the grass is greener and foliage is coming up everywhere. The clematis montana is in bloom, and the quince is in full leaf and nearly in full bloom. Dozens of tulips have popped up, as have bluebells, fritillaries, and dog-tooth violets.

Thanks to chats with my neighbour, and the internet hive mind, I’ve been able to identify a lot more of the plants in this garden – I now know we have weeping silver pear, clematis montana ‘elizabeth,’ and well established quince, pear, apple and hazel trees. I suspected this was a garden full of amazing plants when we first viewed the house, and it has surpassed my expectations in many ways.

I’ve set myself a challenge to create a new bouquet every weekday, and for the past 3 and a bit weeks I’ve kept up this new habit. You can see them all in the daily bouquet gallery at fromeblooms.com.

And finally, note that the hammock is now set up. This is a critically important development, but not one that necessarily accelerates progress. Lounging in the hammock watching butterflies on a sunny afternoon is only permitted if I get a decent amount of stuff done first.