Spring

I know spring has arrived when the kowhai tree two doors down flowers. It is offset by a mauve flowering shrub underneath. On Saturday I saw a bird in the tree and thought it must be a tui. There is a New Zealand folk song celebrating a tui in a kowhai tree and it is one of the quintessential spring images.
When I looked closely at the photo I realised it wasn’t a tui, it was a kaka.

Here is a tui, in the flowering plum tree on the bank above us.

This garden gnome is looking a bit weather beaten but he is enjoying the bright flowers.

It is Spring Festival time in the gardens.
People are encouraged to have their photos taken in the tulips

so we obliged.

There was a good show of different colours

and other flowering plants.