White Things

This handsome white chook giving me the eye is Bodil. She is a pure bred Light Sussex, an old English breed - hence the dignified medieval name. Actually all the chooks have been very distressed by the storms and rain over the last two days, so we have had no eggs. I expect all will be well again tomorrow and I shall once more have more than I can manage - unless they are beginning to be broody??

Secondly - this gorgeous white Violet is popping up around the garden. I think it is Viola cornuta 'Alba' but I am not sure. It is different from ordinary violets in that it is deciduous and loses its leaves in wintertime, however drops numerous seeds before it shuts down in the cold. It arrived as a hitch-hiker in some Heleborus I purchased a year or so ago, and caused a little concern until it was identified by the nurseryman. I love it, so it has been carefully nurtured and encouraged in all sorts of damp and dull spots.

Talking of damp......there has been a lot of rain in this district over the last two days and it is great to get it, but I felt kind of silly in the pouring rain, in raincoat with brolly hosing water onto trees instead of watching the overflowing tank empty onto the gravel drive. I even had a sprinkler running at one time! Now I'm thinking of getting another tank - there is about a 6 month wait for them so I can try and fit it into the budget.