May is an especially lovely month in England. At the start of the month spring is at its height, while by the end there are hints of the summer to come. With spring being late this year, the early part of May felt more like April, with chilly winds and frequent showers. But the trees were green at last after the winter bareness, and there were flowers everywhere!
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All over the world the colour yellow is associated with the sun and its life-giving warmth. It’s the colour of optimism and the coming of spring sunshine. But it’s also an attention-getter. We humans use it for warnings, while the animal world does much the same.
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As well as being a successful novelist and poet, Vita Sackville-West is known for the beautiful gardens she created at Sissinghurst in Kent. She will have welcomed April as all gardeners do … but maybe not the April we have had this year.
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While many people head to Holland to see the tulips, we have London’s Holland Park. There the Dutch Gardens are planted with formal beds edged with low hedges and overflowing with tulips every spring.
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With a slow start to the spring this year it’s felt at times as if March was coming in more like a polar bear than a lion! We had sharp winds, frosts and even some snow as far south as London, although nothing like what they had further north. And even when the weather started to warm up, sunshine was in short supply.
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A number of you seemed to enjoy seeing my Colombian orchids. Now Denzil gives me an excuse to share some more flowers from that beautiful country.
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While a flower is transient, our images capture the memory of it forever. Maybe that’s why so many of us love to photograph them.
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I would never claim to be the only person to have noticed the things I photograph. But I do believe I often photograph things that not EVERYONE has noticed, or thought to photograph. When I travel I of course photograph the famous sights, the landscapes, the architecture. But I also like to capture small details that, while perhaps not unique to the country, are part of my personal memories of it.
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In the last few years, with the batterings the world has taken – Covid, war in Ukraine, prices spiralling – flowers have been among the constants that have kept many people’s spirits up. The pandemic in particular reminded many of us to value the little pleasures of life, and what gives more pleasure for its size than a flower?
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July may not be my favourite month (I prefer May or September). But there has been much to like about this past July, which was bookended with special celebrations.
