WHAT AUTUMN

 First there was no autumn, than there was, then there was storm Ashley and the leaves are gone all too soon. 

Sun is out today - a turnip for the books. Mind you the turnips are all too big old and woody now.

Just have to eat the cavolo nero.

A few pre storm pics of autumn leaves - 

And some of the Bramleys. Missed the apple day so put some away in the shed for the winter individually wrapped in newspaper.

Here are a couple more pics - hydrangea and rue -

And the birds have been feeding on windfall fruit especially the magpies and jays so here is a confrontation - see who wins, both tough corvids.

Not all autumn colour is so bright and more subtle tones can be found.

On the other hand the Virginia creeper, alas now without leaves, was spectacular.

And so to gardening and, yes, I tried to light the bonfire again - tried, it flared and then went out.

So the sun has gone down and so have I, winter beckons and it is becoming all to much for this old codger. So R will rally her troops - employ someone - to have a go. I wait and see.

Having just found out that my Great Great Grandfather abandoned his family and went to Utah, became a Mormon and had two more wives I shall end with a portrait I have found on the web - Robert Hogg.

I wish my plants grew as profusely as his beard.

PATTERN NOT COLOUR

  A garden is mostly green and within this there are shapes and patterns, not just topiary but in the leaves themselves. So out I went with my camera and took monochrome images as below.

The garden is full of shapes and sizes, shades and hidden corners if we just look, not just at the swathe of dahlias and carpet of geraniums but into the diverse world of undergrowth - bark texture and colour, even the soil itself.

Having said that I am not averse to a splash of calendula, the blue of the agapanthus nor even the white of  plastic heron turned egret.

A TIME TO WEED, A TIME TO HACK

 The garden is out of control, well my control. The bottom hedge is fifteen feet high, the paths are overgrown and hedges sprouting. The grass is waist high and the wildflower meadow is desperately short of most of the flowers I sowed etc.

We are short of butterflies and bees, veg is being eaten by rabbits, mice, snails, slugs, pigeons but not us.

Everywhere is so lush, so prolific and with the warmth R has bought a white agapanthus to join the blue and put out the aeonium in the same bed.

She weeds and weeds especially the creeping jenny that has s-p-r-e-a-d.

Elsewhere we have two flowers on the big magnolia and other stuff - 

And for some reason it is a hydrangea year -

Elsewhere we have yellows, violas and roses, daisies and alchemilla.

Well, the latter is a greenish yellow but seems to love falling over the paving

The rue has been splendid and now we have the orange day lilies.

At this point I was going to upload more images but the blogger is not behaving so that is all for now, more soon.

ROASTING COLD

 

The EU says that last month was the hottest on record then the BBC weather lady said that the weather will continue sun autumnal fashion!

So to cheer me up here are some roses.

Let us go down to the pond, a point of disagreement. R wants nice sky reflections in the water. I want a wild natural habitat. So I put up an image looking back from the pond past the strimmed banking.

Around the pond are mimulus, loosestrife and candelabra primulas - but all yellow.

And also a pink spirea and a wild one - the meadow sweet. R does not like the pink. Then there is the gunnera thriving by the hedge,

Of course other things are doing well like the campanula hidden in the weeds.

Just looked out and it is pouring down AGAIN!

Sometimes there comes a combination which surprises me. Here is my small dwarf white lavender infiltrated with the weed herb robert. But I rather like the colour combination.

And so to a pic of the wisteria we were given and we were sure it was moribund and flowers on our small eucryophia - first for a few years.

It is thundering now, time for a second helping of yesterday's egg curry.

Just looked on my Flickr photo site and here is the most visited image!

24,784 times.