The Forsythia Saga

Or a string to your bow.
I'll explain that one shortly.

This is a Forsythia, I do not know its full name, as it was a gift from my neighbour many years ago. In fact, he gave me several of them, just little things they were, but that was then, and this is now. Yes, they just grew and grew. They were originally planted in partial shade at the bottom of the garden, but as the surrounding trees matured, they are now in somewhat denser shade.

The photo above was taken a few years ago, as my plants are not flowering this year, but my neighbour's plants are now in full bloom. And the reason my plants are not flowering; ah, yes, well, it was one of those rare occasions when Nature and I were not working in perfect harmony. You see, I pruned the bushes last year, just after flowering, but I pruned them hard as they had become very overgrown. The idea was that they should have then regrown before the winter. I didn't expect any flowers this year, but I had expected the plants to have bushed out a bit. Unfortunately, Nature wasn't in on this plan. After a cold summer and a very dry autumn, the plants have not grown much at all. Hopefully, they will catch up this summer, as I really would like flowers next year.

And so ends the Forsythia saga. Oh, apart from the bit about the strings to your bow. Apparently, in Korea, there is a musical string instrument called an Ajaeng. And slender sticks of Forsythia are used as a bow to play it. I'd love to have a go at that.

I saw an unusual sight in the garden yesterday, nine magpies, seven of them posed for the photo above. They all appeared to be adults, very strange. They were chased off by a pair of crows. In fact, the crows have also chased off our resident magpies, who for the first time in many years, are not nesting in my neighbour's hawthorn tree. Much to the delight of the blue tits, no doubt.

After a glorious March, the weather forecasters are now predicting wintry weather for early April. Looks like those siskins were right after all.