Flower carpets

As the inevitable hosepipe ban looms here in London, we are nevertheless loving this glorious, dry and sunny spring weather. Nearby Kew Gardens is decked out with masses of daffodils and narcissi as well as a carpet of small, blue flowers, sprinkled in the grass, named 'glory-of-the-snow'. So called as they love cold weather and usually are to be found peeking out from the white stuff. Fat chance this month! The warm weather has also brought forward the masses of magnolia blossom at Kew - pink and white, fragrant and heavenly.
Over at Somerset House there is also a heavenly though contrasting carpet of flowers with real, lumpy turf laid over the whole of the Courtyard and set with 10,000 dreamy, merigue-nest heads of ceramic daffodils. This breathtaking installation by a Chilean artist, Fernando Casasempere, is intended to remind us of the wonder of nature's clock. It surely worked for me.
And as our actual clocks went forward today, marking the start of the new season, I am looking forward to working with the team at Chelsea Physic Garden from tomorrow. I shall soon be surrounded by more spring flowers - bliss !