WINTER DRAWS ON

as and it is getting colder. Dark nights approach.
As autumn pushes forward. I do not apologise for showing these two bushes again. When the sun is out they are splendid. The acer was given to us by my elder sister.

Though some plants are regressing, like the leaves of the water lily on the pond others like the roses and the pink geranium are continuing to flower. I cut the geranium back after first flowering with this purpose in mind. I went in the garden on Monday and did too much, finished off the planting of the gladiolus byzantinus and put in  ten eremurus, fox-tail lilies, where they can be seen from the new extension. 

I planted one of the hydrangea Annabelle cuttings I struck last year near the cattle-grid on the banking at the request of R, then cut back and dead-headed some of the rose bed including the very big catmint which had got out of hand. Finally I cleared away the remains of the rhubarb, now flopped and fallen to the ground. 

On the way down to the pond, last year, I put in several cyclamen corms and had given up hope of seeing anything but suddenly we have leaves. By the bottom shed the fatsia has decided to begin flowering though this seems a strange choice to make it has done this in past years.

Over the weekend we were away in Dumfries and Galloway to give R a break from nursing the decrepit invalid and went to Threave Gardens. On the first visit it was shut due to floods but was open on the second attempt - more on that next blog.

At home we have the last of the windfall apples from the Bramley.

I still cannot smell the toffee leaves from the cercidiphyllum or katsura.

And so, here in the UK, the clocks go back an hour from our summer time, waking at 7 am is now 6 am and the dark closes in earlier in the evening.
Ah! Well, only six months to go - Christmas, New Year, an election?, Brexit (or not), impeachment (or not), etc etc etc.

Time to hibernate.

I end with a monochrome shot of The Cumbrian mountains from across the Solway Firth for no other reason than I like the shot and it reflects the feeling that we are all bedding down till the spring.

LIFE IN THE OLD GARDEN

Yet! 

Here are some of the wildlife from the last month or so - we have also had many more including a badger visit.

RAT

Immature cock pheasant

Wood mice (long tailed field mouse)

Rabbits

Wood Pigeon

There is so much to do, put off because of the operation, but having said that, the limping man has just mown a chunk of lawn (can you have a chunk of lawn?).

Now to reds and yellows, red sky and euonymus elata - and yellows - Acer Sango-kaku and Rudbeckia Goldsturm -  

On some of the evergreen shrubs the greenery is reverting and will need the reverted bit cut out - when I get around to it. R continues to dead head and cut back and plant stuff, she has put endless bulbs under the white birches. I had not been down to that part of the garden for a while and was delighted to see the bark, even on the youngest trees, has now gone white.

And still it rains a lot giving so many grey days (the spot of yellow is a self-sown sunflower from the bird feeders.

 So as Boris the Cunning weaves his way through the politics of Brexit pretending to be a bumbling harmless chap (don't you believe it), Donald the Devious dodges impeachment if he can and Pugilistic Putin watches and smiles, I think I will have a cup of tea and a piece of shortbread.

And now I learn that Charles Jencks, co-founder of Maggie's cancer charity and designer of the Garden of Cosmic Speculation and Crawick Multiverse has died aged 80. 
The world is a poorer place.

SEASON OF MISTS AND . . .

not a sign of mellow fruitfulness, just wind and rain and rain and rain. 

The butterflies are still with us especially on the remaining buddliea flowers.

Comma to the left, red admirals right. The inundation of painted ladies has dissipated now.

The holly in the bottom hedge is loaded with berries as are the briars and cotoneasters. Does that spell out a hard winter to come? No doubt the blackbirds, thrushes, redwings and fieldfares will enjoy the harvest.

Rosey's hydrangea cuttings are potted up for the winter and the bushes are still putting on a good show. I must soon plant out the ones I took last year as they have rooted.




There is leaf colour coming and leaf fall now from the ash trees.


Strawberry leaves to the left, Euonymus to the right.

Down the garden the water lily leaves are beginning to submerge but, as soon as my knee allows I will need to tidy up the banks of the pond.

At the back of the house the Michaelmas Daisies are finally coming into flower but flopping across the way to the front door (the one at the back). So a primitive use of stakes has been employed to hold them back.

In fact they have become too big and will need to the dug up, divided and replanted this winter.

The stream is a bit clogged as my operation came before I could prepare it for autumn so it has overflowed into the white birches. Yesterday I donned my boots and went and limped off down the garden and cleared some of it out. Also, with all the rain, springs have appeared near the bonfire area so, as to try and protect the grass, I dug a small trench across to the stream.
And then hobbled back to the house.

In the new rose bed Lois and Ian's rose is flowering again. The bed needs a good cut back and clear out, The aquilegias have almost taken over having sown themselves everywhere.

We have abundant apples and pears and R took some to church at the weekend - and left the trug behind. They may rise a pound or two for the coffers.

Another flowering glory at this time of year are the Kaffir lilies, so delicate. I prefer this deeper red to the paler pink ones.

Between the showers and longer spells of rain I have planted up two pots with Madame LeFebre red tulips, R dead headed and I mowed the small lawns near the house - very slowly as per knee.

Still harvesting apples and pears.

AND SO TO OCTOBER BLUES

R has gone for a walk around the block after planting about 100 of the 250 wild daffodils under the birches. She says the soil is all stone and water so we will see how they do. As she was out, and against knee op preservation instructions, I put 25 jonquils outside the new window in the extension. 
Where have all the small birds gone? A month ago the feeders were inundated, up to ten at a time, now just the odd blue or coal tit, occasional chafing or sparrow. Perhaps they have headed south for better weather? (Except it is raining ther too.)

So when is a blue blue? I hear so many lavender and purplish flowers called blue but . . ?
We let me start with Ceratostigma willmottianum. (Ignore the geranium having a second flush.) 

This is a true blue but lavender ('s blue, dilly dilly?) not a true blue - at least this one is not, nor is the shrubby clematis heracleifolia which is described variously as blue or purple. The lavender and the clematis look the same colour to me.

This time of year do bring other blues - winter is coming and the dark days and, dare I say it, the dreaded Christmas. 

So to cheer myself up here are some glorious yellows, the colour of sun - helianthus and rudbeckia.

There that is better.

Meanwhile the garden is becoming an overgrown jungle - much to the delight of the rabbits. I suppose, given the winter and if I can get in the garden, we can drag it back to some sort of order. One early job will be to get rid of the nettles taking over the manure heap.

The pears on the ground are being munched by rabbits and the rat which leaves open wounds for wasps and especially butterflies. Suddenly there seem to be a lot of Commas in the garden.Elsewhere the white geranium, having regrown is flowering and appreciated by the hover flies.

R's favourite small sedum is tumbling out of the new rose bed and the anthems are flowering again. Talking of the rose bed, it has been taken over by aquilegia seedlings. That is something that will need to be remedied. I mean where am I going to put the eremurus (fox-tail lilies) that I bought let alone the Tulip fosteriana Madame Lefevre. (A favourite of my mother.)

Now for an interesting tip - R burned her wrist on the Aga the other day so she turned the the alien on the kitchen windowsill, snapped a bit off and applied the sap. She says it stopped all soreness so here is our creature from outer space - an Aloe vera courtesy of HC. The wound is healing nicely. Perhaps all professional kitchens should grow one?

It is only Monday and I have written all the above - must be bored - so I planted 75m jonquils, pruned the yellow climbing rose and took 6 cuttings, did some dead heading (now my knee is sore) and brought in the camera. All rat and rabbits, one hen pheasant, one magpie, one pigeon and then - a badger!

Friday and it is raining again - torrents from heaven - this one is called Lorenzo (?after Jorge Lorenzo?).
All in all a blue week - lost my wedding ring somewhere. 😟