Springtime in Tours...

... starts with the cherry blossoms...

I'm lucky enough to live in the medieval quarter of this ancient city so all the buildings around are roughly 15th and 16th century, and there are many nooks, crannies, courtyards and gated gardens that conceal some real visual treasures from the casual passer-by. I'm a nosey old cow though, so I've found loads of lovely things to snap!

This rather pretty specimen was transplanted to the small Placis de la Lamproie around the corner from me last year and it's lovely to see in flowering in its first year here! I presume it's cherry anyway... will have to wait and see!

Next comes what looks to me like a baby horse chestnut, but the flowers aren't tall enough - I'll be interested to see what the leaves turn in to... There's another tree behind it, just to confuse you!

Looking across rue de la Paix onto le Jardin St-Pierre-le-Puellier.

The purple magnolia - I *just* caught it before all the petals dropped...

This marvellous old tree can be found on the rue du Mûrier and is doing the feux d'artifice de printemps display admirably! The little garden itself is open to the public, but at this time of year there's not many folk around. It's also rather nice to see the façade of building behind... The limbs stretch forever and I've a shot facing the other way, overlooking the other side of the road...

Whizz, "ooh", bang, "aah"...
(I may be taking the fireworks analogies a *little* far...)

And lastly there's this lovely pot of what looks like a white laburnum I found when I was sneaking about... although it may be wisteria...?

Whatever it is, it looks very happy!

Now I'm inspired to start my little window boxes up again... rosemary, lavender, mint and some other smelly favourites! I'll take myself off to the flower market on Saturday to see what I can find...