Bregenzerwald Spring

May is a fantastic month is Austria, every week brings yet another public holiday. Last Thursday was Ascension, a holiday, and happily the schools had Friday free as well.

We took the opportunity to make a  trip to the beautiful Bregenzerwald. When we were there at Easter everything was still under a deep blanket of snow. Spring had now more or less sprung and all of the deciduous trees were shooting out their violently green new leaves.

It is this combination of densely packed evergreen and deciduous trees that makes the Bregenzerwald so stunning.  This is then finished off with carpets of lush hayfields, brimming with wildflowers.

On Sunday it snowed a little on the tops of the mountains and the fresh snow up against spring greens was breathtaking.

Next week there is another holiday, Whitsun. I will be spending it tending to my garden.

I.Love.May.

Apple Blossom

Cows at the local cow breeders’ show.

Chapel.

The Kanisfluh mountain looking ominous.

There was fresh snow on the top a couple of days later.

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This Week’s Flowers

We had some rain this week, which was fantastic news for the garden. The warm, dry weather has been heaven but the plants really needed a good soaking.

My garden is definitely at its best late spring/early summer, there are so many plants blooming right now, and so many scents, it is lush.

This year I must get organised and start planting some autumn interest now. Any excuse for a trip to the garden centre.

 

Forget-me-not

The tree peony I planted last year is already earning its keep!

Forgotten the name, but this gorgeous thing came from my Grandmother’s garden.

This flew in as a weed, but is so pretty it got to stay.

This camellia has flowered for the first time in the three since I planted it three years ago.

Anenome

Something pretty from my Mum’s garden.

The bleeding heart gets lusher every year.

Phlox.

 

 

More Garden

The garden is the only place I want to be at the moment. There is so much to be done, and already so much to enjoy.

Here are a couple of pics, before I head back to my trowel and twine.

Dwarf pine.

Grape Hyacinths.

Ladybird happy in the forsythia.

Fritillaris.

Purple Magnolia.

Wisteria bursting out.

Plum blossom.

Mini-pansies.

Green (and a little bit of yellow)

Spring has officially sprung and it is wonderful.

The garden has been given a speedy makeover by mother nature. In the space of about five days it went from an uninspiring, barren area outside my house, to a living, breathing, pushing, blossoming, growing garden again.

There is nothing better for your mood than gardening in the spring. It is a miracle to see all of your firm favourites not only return, but return bigger, stronger and even more impressive than they were last year.

There is also the joy of buying new plants for the spaces left by annuals.

I spent all of last weekend working away and now I can sit back and enjoy (and photograph) the developing fruits of my labours.

A little lime tree I bought at the weekend. The scent is amazing.

Raindrops on lupins.

 

Spring?

We have had some lovely early spring weather for the past few days, shaking off the winter weariness.

The forecast for tomorrow unfortunately and unbelievably contains the word “snow”. I hope to banish it with these cheerful pics taken in my garden.

Come on winter, you have overstayed your welcome, that will do now until mid-December. Thank you.

Palmenhaus

Last Tuesday our photo group braved the weather and headed into the park surrounding Schönbrunn to take some pictures.

Uninspired by the mournful weather we retreated into the beautiful Palmenhaus where we were welcomed by tropical flowers, doing what we should all have been doing this particularly dark and gloomy winter, thriving in moist, tropical conditions in a massive greenhouse.

The Palmenhaus in Schönbrunn.

 

Orchids

It snowed again this week, a good 10 to 15 centimetres of new snow. Outside there is only grey, white and more grey.

Inside my orchids are doing really well and giving some much needed, in your face, no nonsense colour.

I used to live in Singapore, home of the most amazing orchids in the world. Ironically I had no success in growing these beauties there. This didn’t matter as cut orchids were cheap and plentiful, but as a gardener, it was a big dent to my pride.

In Vienna my many orchid plants grow as if they were in a rainforest, not Vienna in the winter, where the humidity indoors is somewhere around 30%.

These pics are of a plant that has flowered non-stop for three years. What a star.

 

Tail end of Winter?

Snowflakes are floating past the window as I type.

I have had enough of white and grey and am no longer in the mood to look for attractive photos in it. This weekend I turned my focus to what little detail and colour a long winter has left behind.

Surely spring can’t be too far away?

Franziskanerplatz

It is time to stop moaning about the weather and the grey and just get on with it until spring arrives to rescue us.

Despite horrible, squally rain and mushy remnants of snow, we set off on an intrepid photo class today.

Here are a couple of pics where there was at least a little bit of colour to brighten things up.

Franziskanerkirche

Franziskanerkirche

Franziskanerkirche

Blue Sky

Vienna is a beautiful city and most of the time I cannot believe my luck that I live somewhere so aesthetically pleasing.

There is, of course, a “but” waiting in the wings. That “but” is Vienna in the winter.

In the run up to Christmas, the city is stunning. Beautiful, elegant chandeliers grace the main shopping streets and the smell of Christmas trees and “punsch” would make even the most grumpy feel festive (and boy can they do grumpy here).

Where is all gets a bit grim is from about now until the end of February. It snows quite a lot, which is beautiful and exciting at first, but then just gets annoying as parking becomes impossible and great melting mountains of the stuff pile up.

Then there is the “Hochnebel” a grey high fog that blankets the city a lot of the time in the winter. The effect of white snow and grey skies gets me down and by the beginning of March I am craving spring, light and colour.

So on the rare occasions when the grey parts and blue appears I am ridiculously happy. This happened when I was out and about on Tuesday, a brief glimpse of what lies in store and a reminder of how pretty my adopted city can be.