That passage of time....

This week the Living Stones have started to celebrate the end  of the Winter and the forthcoming Spring.  A close look at them reveals that the plants are growing new leaves from within.  The new leaves slowy take the water stored in the old leaves and then form new themselves with this stored water. A clever process!

As the old leaves  slowly shrivel they become eventually paper thin. At this point they can be removed and we can start watering the plants again after the long dry winter months.  We will have to wait a few more months though before we see the flowers

Leaving the greenhouse and walking back to the pond something very fast darted across the garden. It was a Humming Bird Hawk-moth.  They rarely stop still long enough to photograph but this one co-operated and perched on an Ivy leaf and basked in the late sunshine for a few minutes.

The Humming Bird Hawk Moth- at full zoom!

A casual look into the pond revealed the first Whirligig Beetles of the year

Whirligig Beetles - resting

After the Easter Holidays the garden should start taking on a new dimension with the class plantings in the raised bed taking shape and other exciting things planned for the School open day in June and the NGS open Weekend in July.