Spring trinkets

Flowers are not the only welcome things of color that are bursting onto the gray scene these days.   As reminders that Spring is an invitation to the outdoor life and that flowers do not provide the only means for brightening the outdoor scene, here is a sampling from a few booths at last weekend's flower show.  In these, gardens, plants and flowers merely served to provide points of departure for the imagination.

First, for pampering the feet.  Planting and working in the garden don't have to be excuses to wear tattered old shoes.

Nor does mucking about in soil necessarily require black "wellies" or dull gloves.

This garden art is clever and full of movement.  It also provides a way to recycle damaged bicycle wheel rims.

These little ceramic pigs look right at home, fat and sassy among the plants.

And these ceramic pots, with their flower motif, provide a hint of cosy worthy of a tea set.

For those who love the idea of birds among their flowers, here are some that will kindly sit and stay wherever one places them.

Spring can be a most glorious time to be able to sit outdoors - in greater or lesser style. 

I am so glad that I was able to snatch these fleeting moments of sun from last weekend before these days of rain returned.