Bristol in bloom

OK, so the title might be a bit grand but the warm weather we’ve had recently has really helped the flowers in the garden. Almost everywhere you look there are flowers or buds about to burst.

One flower I really like to see at this time of year is the Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris). It has masses of beautiful yellow flowers:

Not to be out-done, the Bog Bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) in the pond is also in flower:

Other pond plants are in flower too, including my absolute favourite, the Water Avens (Geum rivale):

Within the pond itself the Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis) is flowering:

One of the Red Valerian plants (Centranthus ruber) is also in flower. I only introduced this to the garden last year (despite it being a common flower in Bristol) and it’s really doing well. Apparently it can be difficult to keep in-check but it’s really good for butterflies and bees so I’m happy to have a lot in my garden:

From a culinary perspective, but still with a very pretty flower, some of the strawberry plants (Fragaria ananassa) are in bloom too:

Not quite so pretty is the grape, but it’s started producing grapes so that’s quite exciting: