Violets

April is the month for violets in the garden. These dog violets have been flowering in the same sunny spot for 20 years.

This (I think) is Viola labradorica, with purple leaves.

A yellow violet Viola biflora - a contradiction in terms. It's a woodland species that flowers under a Cornus shrub in the garden.

Skunk cabbage, elegant architecture but an unpleasant smell...

An unusual striped auricula.

Azara microphylla is the antithesis of skunk cabbage - tiny flowers and leaves but a wonderful scent - or chocolate. It flowers outside the conservatory door and has filled the conservatory with scent all day.

 Lesser celandine - yellow starry flowers and glossy foliage that disappears by mid-summer, leaving tiny bulbils in the soil that are transported all over the garden on my boots. Invasive, but cheerful flowers.

 Flower buds on the Victoria plum tree. Three years ago the plum crop was so heavy that it broke the branches on the tree.

 Magnolia stellata in full bloom, at last

 Narcissus

This peacock butterfly, sunning itself on the garden path today, has just successfully hibernated through the most severe winter in recent memory.