For those who have been following the #52posies challenge you’ll have seen my posies move through from winter to spring. As we’re now one quarter of the way through the year I thought I’d take a moment to reflect and collate some of the posy pictures of the year so far.
Posy #1 
Posy #2 
Posy #3 
Posy #5 
Posy #7 
Posy #10 
Posy #13 
Posy #6 
Posy #4
The early winter posies were full of evergreen foliage and pastel shades. The viburnum was a real bonus at this time of year, featuring in posy #1 and completely stripped of leaves in posy #6. In #4 I found inspiration in a tree full of catkins. There wasn’t a single flower in this posy and whilst this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, I enjoyed looking at this one on my mantelpiece all week!
The first anemone, a purple Anemone De Caen, appeared in week #7. When these first bloom they are very short stemmed so are ideally suited to my little posy vase. The colours of the posies also become more vibrant with the arrival of yellow narcissi, in this week contrating beautifully with the purple anemone.
Tulips are often a feature of gardens from the mid-late spring but a handful have already bloomed, including these lovely ‘Apricot Foxx’ tulips blooming this week in posy #13.
For the next quarter of the year, like many others I will be at home, and like many flower farmers seeing a massive drop in demand for flowers as events and celebrations are cancelled or postponed and deliveries and shopping trips are limited to essentials.
I could not have predicted when I started this challenge how much the world would have changed in such a short space of time. But what I’m finding is that going outisde at the weekend to collect flowers from the garden has been very grounding. The flowers are still growing, seeds are germinating and birds are singing. I have found many ladybirds in the garden, and butterflies have started to arrive. Even the fish in the fish pond have started to come towards the surface to catch a little sun.
For our mental health I have always thought that getting some fresh air and being surrounded by nature is a great thing. It’s never been more important to do this as it is now.