At Abriachan we have the wonderful and not very widely known St Columba’s Font Stone. Under the shady branches of the hazel trees, this mysterious hole sunk into granite schist, sits, surrounded in tales of religion and magic.

Redwings, Blackbirds, Thrushes and Fieldfares arrived from Scandinavia overnight and we woke to a garden exploding with the movements of birds.

Blue poppies are things of dreams. They startle and spell bind each time you see them in flower. The first blooms for this year were there today.

Each year we see the magnificent stems of Onopordum Acanthium rise from the silver over-wintering rosette. Many photographs have been taken of visitors standing beside a 2 metre high "Scots' Thistle".

Leaf mould is a lovely old fashioned term and brings to mind old Estate gardens and poorly paid, overworked garden boys.  

Often weeding, moving, lifting and sweeping..… you lose the wood for the trees. So each month, I try to walk around the garden and see it with fresh eyes.  

Witch Hazel, Hamamelis mollis is a wonderful shrub, a thing of legend. These beautiful shrubs flower on bare branches before the leaves.

Does any flower give more hope than snowdrops? Pure white modest flowers with a chaste beauty, that belies their tough nature. There they are each January, bravely emerging between the fallen leaves and ivy tendrils.

Over the years we’ve gardened at Abriachan, there has been markedly increased interest in old fashioned primroses and auriculas.

Azaleas are one of those wonderful plants that lift their fragrance into the air, so if you have one or more, visit them in the evening or even in the middle of the day when any warmth will intensify the scented air. Just lovely, I must plant many more.

When we plant annuals, our aim is always to have a blaze of colour from July onwards.

How can I be sure that this is spring? It is warmer, yes. The beautiful but icy grip of the Scandinavian anticyclone is loosened.

Anyone of my generation, post WW2, will be steeped in family stories and memories of the 1914-1918 war.

Rock roses or Helianthemums have always been favourites of ours. We love them because they thrive in our sandy, sunny beds and look just wonderful when the sun comes out through June and July. The yellow form is one of our native plants and that would explain a lot.

It all begins with an idea.

The sweet peas are coming to an end. The stems are getting shorter and there is more than a little late infestation of green fly, but they have been magnificent and as they say “owe us nothing".

Should I use the word opulence, or should I say abundance? The dictionary tells me opulence is great wealth or luxuriousness  and I do feel this piece is about a luxuriance of flower and foliage.

Rain again…in fact a ferocious storm, with sheet lightening. Further south from here the storms were terrible and many people were flooded. Here it was short and very sharp.