A DAMP SQUIB

A wet coming we have of it. 

Will it ever stop raining?

But there are things in the hedgerows yet - Old Man's Beard, Clematis vitalba, and elderberries that the birds have not yet eaten though the redwings and fieldfares are back.

We have colour in the garden, if the sun shines which is rarely at the moment - liquidambar, sedum spectabile and rosehips.

 

Yet the wind is stripping the trees, one last leaf or two here on a sycamore in the back hedge. The hogweed seeds still cling to the dried stems on the lower banking, we had expected the gardener to come and trim this but no sign despite a reminder so look for another? And the fleabane still flowers.

As usual the fatsia is coming into bud at the wrong end of the year. Why it does this I do not know but it does. I should be out in the garden but it is so wet that I would damage the lawn. I checked the paving but it is not slippery at the moment. Still bulbs to plant and tender plants to pot up and bring in. I heard George Monbiot on the radio describing how some of his internet posts had been taken down. I have absolutely no faith that the powers that be will do anything but tinker with global warming. This is so sad for our children and grandchildren etc but whether it is a capitalist economy or a dictatorship self interest rules.

Covid has failed the earth - it should have got rid of three quarters of us, at least.

I have had a radical idea to cut the workload in then garden - do nothing for 20 years and document its return to the wild. The only snag is that I will be 96 by the end of the project, or more likely scattered as ashes up in the wood.

At the moment I feel a bit like the rhubarb so watch this space.

 We watch the clouds build up across the bay in the brief bright spells but mostly it is overcast, wet and dreary. And dark - how do we get through the winter?

AUTUMN COLOUR

 Autumn is definitely with us. The trees are turning, the fieldfares and redwings are back from Scandinavia,  it is half term and the Lake District is full of holiday makers in the rain.

Whirling seed everywhere, the big sycamore has never produced so many offspring. I get out the blower and clear the drive. Next day it is carpeted again.

And the colours change with the cooler, damper, darker weather.

With R having cleared away the old willow herb we can suddenly see our old fig again. I had almost forgotten about it.

The leaf litter, this is mainly beech (we have a hedge but no trees) shines in the sun. (When we get any).

Else where there is leaf colour, yellows and greys, shrubs that keep their leaves. especially on the banking in front of the house.

But not all is leaves - I dug up some potatoes - R had found them sprouting in the veg cupboard so I put them in. A few slug nibbles etc but they are edible. I am trying to remember what they were when they were bought - perhaps Maris Piper? And yes, you can see a grubby turnip in there too.

I am still deadheading the cosmos and dahlias and have harvested the last of the pears. Even with the long basket thingy I cannot reach the top of the tree. Climbing a ladder will be very vetoed. I tend to fall - always have done. The first time I broke my arm I slipped in a cowpat.

The sweet peas are gone and I have cut them down but there enough flowers for small vases.

The hydrangeas are now changing, the Annabelle gone brown and needing deadheading, the other going pink and okay for now. This is a time for disease and fungi to erupt - we have shaggy parasols by the main path and the azalea leaves have their autumn colour masked by mildew.

So we march on towards November. A tawny owl hoots from the wood, a pheasant squawks arrogantly and rabbits just keep quiet - you never know who might be about. Then the heron lifts from the pond and in a few huge flaps is gone over the hedge.

FALL FALLS

 I went out this morning and a whirl of sycamore seeds were blown from our notable tree. Now I know where the idea of a helicopter came from, nothing to do with dragonflies. The wings whirl around the central seed just like a blade.

We are just back from Herefordshire and my jaw is aching from motorway driving. They had grown a plethora of gourds.

At home R has been cutting back the white rosebay and I have mown the lawns - hopefully for the last time. Whilst we were away there was some heavy rain and the bottom garden has returned to its usual boggy state.

Leaves are falling but there is still some interest in the garden with rosehips and the bark of our cherries. The leaves on the big magnolia catch the sun and look especially good now.

Autumn does have its compensations though with the startling leaf colours it can bring.

Sometimes I look at our tall eucalyptus and think did we plant that about fourteen years ago as a small sapling?

Still flowers like the dahlias and cosmos coming as long as I deadhead. We have not yet had a hard frost if any so they carry on. Then I look out of my window and think I must cut that ivy in the old ash tree. It has the Rambling Rector rose up it too - surely more than enough. And plants that were written off have recovered especially the clematis armandii on the shed that had wilt and the rhododendron off which all the leaves fell earlier this year - now sprouting profusely.

I look up at the photo of the eucalyptus and it illustrates how the garden has almost become a wood. Here is a picture of the garden from not long after we arrived - 

Changed a bit?

So now it is time to batten down hatches, tidy the garden (especially the compost heap I am told). Perhaps time to ring the gardener?

GETTING COLDER, AUTUMN LEAVES

Now into October and the courgette certainly is not happy with the temperature. No frost yet though. 

It is a strange day, we are waiting for rain but having said that, the stream is running again and the grass is muddy. Life in the garden is very quiet (apart from the fat rabbits) and everything is waiting to bed down for the winter. I found one ripe Victoria Plum on the tree, very late, and all the trail camera revealed was myself walking away and walking back.

The Magnolia grandiflora is still flowering. 

Leaves are gathered by the boot scraper at the back door. It was my mother’s scraper. The weather has definitely moved on into autumn, 10C this morning. We went for a breezy walk over at Kirkby-in-Furness with a coffee to follow at Pam’s delightful cafe. What is with this desire to build new houses everywhere? New estate by the school there.

We have plenty of candles, I hope, for when the blackouts come in the winter. If we run out we will have to wrap up warmly, go in the garden and light the bonfire. Or just go to bed and read my NEW iPad. Yes, I have succumbed as the cracked glass on the other one was getting a bit sharp. So, what next, new DSLR for my broken one or even an iPhone!!!

I am considering letting 90% of the garden go wild but that would go against my nature? Like to have everything under control.

Just watched Countryfile to discover what I thought was our Stipa gigantea is actually Elephant grass, Miscanthus giganteus! No wonder it has never flowered. Daft old man thought he had bought the Stipa but . . . 

Most of our box plants in pots are looking a bit brown - ?blight. I shall move them somewhere and hope for recovery, clean the pots and use them for the tulips I have bought.

Well, there may be fewer flowers now but leaves are splendid so let us have a big splash of colour.

Acer Sango-kaku

Euonymus elata

Virginia Creeper

Ash above and two of azalea leaves.

If autumn is here Christmas cannot be far away - aaaaagh!

I have just noticed that in my labels Putin is directly above rat.

SUCKERS AND STUFF

 

There are times when one's inability to do anything is a surprise - Came back from Scotland with an old fashioned cold and am still shattered - NO it is not Covid.

First walk up the garden and I notice the rabbit has reopened the burrow on the upper banking. So I have stuck a big stone in the opening and we wait.

The one of three large rhododendrons we bought at Stonefield Castle and looked dead - all its leaves shed - has come back to life - fingers crossed.

There is also considerable bark damage on two or three of our white birches. I could blame the deer but actually think this is grey squirrels getting at the phloem. If the bark loss encircles the trunk we will have a dead tree. 

Anyway it is a way for infection and fungi to get in. 

Not good

I wandered down past the osiers that are the remains of the willow tunnel we once had and they have sprouted +++. Do I want to make baskets? Should I just prune all the new shoots. They could be tied in bundles for the woodburner?

Elsewhere we are suffering from suckers! The grey poplar in the lawn, the damson and greengage all over the place, even in the middle of the veg beds and rhubarb.

Up under the shade of the Guelder Rose I noticed a familiar leaf. The yellow tree peony had sown itself. I may need to dig that one up and pop elsewhere.

Sometimes when one delves into a shrub there is a surprise. Never noticed these before as they were well hidden.

This is the growing end of a fatsia branch - fascinating.

We do still have colour here and there - apart from the dahlias - 

Buddleia and day lily.

Hilary's Rose and cyclamen.

I was discussing the bountiful crop of acorns everywhere last night and we got onto elderberries too. Some things have done well - was swapping pears for apple juice.

The leaves are starting to fall - I am waiting for the cercidiphyllums to smell of caramel (or chocolate)(or toffee). They are also called katsura.

And we have other leaf colour like the Choisya ternata sundance or Mexican Orange, the Hypericums and even the water lilies.

The Sedum or stonecrop has come out to feed the bees now autumn.

And the Cosmos Purity goes on and on - no frost yet.