Mahonia Charity is still carrying on flowering long after it should have stopped.

The wild snowdrop is only just starting to show above ground, all the ones that are flowering now are special ones. I did have them all labelled, very tastefully with black labels and silver writing, but most of them seem to be missing, where have they all gone!! Will have to get my large snowdrop book out and re-identify them all and then make a map of where they are all planted!

I think this one is John Gray.

Is this Atkinsii, I think so, a good one that increases quite quickly.

A clump of one of the Greatorex doubles, Hyppolyta or Desdemona,  from its size, I think it is Desdemona. I won’t bore you with any more snowdrops until I have managed to re-identify them.

One of the Camellias has been flowering since December, the others have nice fat buds but are not showing any flowers yet.

Another that was in flower before Christmas is Narcissus Rijnveld’s Early Sensation.

Rosa Graham Thomas just refuses to stop flowering, and there are so many buds forming too. It was cut back by half in November, but has put out lots more new shoots, just hope it won’t regret it later.

The same has happened to the Anthemis in the front garden, it just doesn’t want to stop flowering!

Hellebores are now starting to flower in all the shady borders.

Some of them are the most delicious plum colour.

Some are double, pink outside and white within, absolutely gorgeous!

And some are spotted, will do a separate post about these lovely plants when they are all flowering in February.

The small Sarcococca bush that we have, just inside the woodland strip, might have rather insignificant flowers, but they certainly pump out the perfume! On a still day the perfume hangs around in the air and people wonder where it is coming from , not realising that it comes from such tiny flowers.

The summer snowflake, Leucojum aestivum,  is another flower that was flowering before Christmas!! Have just noticed that the spring snowflake, L.vernum, has put out its first flower, but it has a lot of catching up to do.

The tassels on Garrya elliptica are getting longer each day.  When we went to Rosemoor the other day , the RHS have a fantastic bush at the entrance with the most amazingly long tassels, put mine to shame!

Choisya ternata just gets better and better, it never seems to want to stop flowering.

Another little bush that is thoroughly confused, Convolvulous cneorum. This little plant just keeps  forming more and more flower buds, how do I stop it!

One plant that should be flowering now is Iris unguicularis, this has put flowers out since December, they don’t last long, only a day or two, but with so many buds there are always flowers showing, brightening up a dull day.

I know there are a few flowers that I forgot to photograph, the Japanese azalea, is now covered in blooms for example, but these are most of what is in flower at the moment here in the SW corner of the UK. Thank you to Carol at Maydreams Garden  for hosting this GBBD, to see more flowers, please go to http:// www.maydreamsgardens.com to see what is blooming around the world.

I didn’t think there would be very much to photograph this time , but then, when I started looking, it was amazing what I found scattered in different parts of the garden. There are a few flowers still thinking it is summer and just about hanging on, and there are the winter flowerers that are just starting. Hanging on valiantly are the hardy Fuchsias, this one is Delta Sarah.

I have read that you can eat the seed pods of fuchsias by making them into the filling for a pie or a flan, the only problem is that I never seem to have enough at any one time.

This Fuchsia is Whiteknights Blush and is one of my favourites, a lovely pale pink.

Campanula porscharskyana  is still flowering round the place. It pops up everywhere and has to be controlled with a firm hand or it would smother everything in its path.

Choisya ternata is covered in buds, this will be its 3rd flowering, if frost doesn’t put paid to its flowers.

Garrya eliptica is gearing up to flowering at the correct time, another month and the tassels will be 3 times the length.

I hadn’t realised that Liriope muscari formed lilac berries after it had flowered, yes , I know , not a flower, but I thought they looked so lovely so should be included.

I found one tiny Cyclamen hederifolium still hanging on. Their leaves are now forming a lovely patterned ground cover, soon it will be Cyclamen coum that we are looking at along with the snowdrops.

A few Hellebore are putting up their buds, I really think they should wait a few more weeks.

Mahonia “Charity” has been flowering for a long time  now,  providing pollen and nectar for any late bees that are still foraging on sunny days,

but just look at the gorgeous jade coloured berries that follow for the blackbirds and thrushes to enjoy.

This Chaenomeles by the back door flowers on and off all through the winter, depending on the weather, it has just started and will continue until April.

Viburnum bodnantense “New Dawn” is covered in buds, these are just about to open and like the Chaenomoles above, will continue all winter as long as the winter isn’t like the last one!

By the front door we have the winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, that we inherited with the house. It is in full shade, so I’m sure it would flower much better if it was in more sun, even so, it does its best and forms a nice splash of yellow to brighten up a dark area.

A new shrub that we have just bought and planted in the woodland strip is Callicarpa bodinieri which has the most gorgeous purple berries, more food for my birds and dormice to enjoy !

Shining out from the very dark corners of the woodland are the berries of Iris foetidissima. Something is spreading the seed  around all the shady areas but I’m very glad because quite often, nothing else will grow where it is so dark.

Also in the dark shade of the woodland are a couple of plants of butchers broom, Ruscus aculeatus. My plants are only very small still, but they are producing very large berries.

That’s it for November, it is a lot colder than it has been lately, but still no frosts for us so far, I think all the summer flowers will soon stop putting out flowers and we will be left with  the ones that should be flowering now. Here in Devon, in about 6 weeks, it will be snowdrop time once more, the other day when I was doing a bit of tidying I noticed lots of snowdrop “noses” showing above the soil, won’t be long now before the gardening year starts once more will it , or like us, does it  never stop for you ?

The Berberis bush by the garage thinks that spring has arrived.

The Spirea bush in the bee and butterfly border thinks the same, the few insects that are still around are very grateful.

What does my Hellebore think it is doing, this plant has been flowering for a couple of months now, hope it remembers to flower again in February!

One lonely Candelabra primula, I think this one is Postford White. the bonus of it flowering again is that I will be able to harvest more seeds!

Just one of my Cowslips among hundreds of others, thinks that it is time to flower again. More nectar for any passing bee that hasn’t decided to hibernate yet.

One of my Iris unguicularis has decided to flower just a couple of months early, usually it is Dec/Jan that I first notice the flowers.

We did have a long dry spell here in Devon, so I don’t know if it is the weather being warmer than usual that has caused these flowers to be totally confused or maybe the plants think they are going to die with it having been so dry and they want to make sure they set seed. Whatever the reason is, it makes for a very colourful garden. The weather is now a bit colder, but still no frost. Lots of rain has come over the last few days so at last the ground is soft enough to plant all my spring bulbs. I am confused with the unseasonal weather, never mind the plants – do you have any confused plants?

As some of you may know, away from the house, we have a circular area, half of which is in shade from about 10am onwards (bearing in mind that the sun rises at 4.30 or 5am in the summer so plants will have at least 5 hrs sun, that’s providing it shines !)  and this border has an underground stream running below, so is always damp. These red Primula candelabra “Inverewe” were photographed  in Scotland, but I managed to buy some plants from a nursery on Dartmoor, thanks to the book, The Plant Finder.

At the moment I have this border planted up with bog plants which are lovely in the spring and early summer, but then the freshness fades as the months go by. I’ve been thinking for quite some time now that it could be a lot better later in the year.There is far too much Alchemilla mollis which has seeded itself throughout the border, they can all go, ferns are spreading everywhere, at least half can go into the woodland and other plants are ready to be split and moved,  so now seems a good time to reorganise this area.

Out came paper and pencil and lists started to be made of all the plants that like damp ground in semi shade,and because the border is a semi circle, that were also the colours of the rainbow.

Candelabra primulas were the first choice because of all the colours available.

Primula alpicola are available in the indigo, violet range along with Primula florindae “Coppertones” for the orange section. Managed to find a nursery in Ireland selling this one, oh, the joys of shopping with a lap top and a debit card !!

Purple orchids for the violet coloured section, these are quite widely available from specialist nurseries.

Of course Meconopsis have to represent the blue in the rainbow.

That takes care of the early part of the year. There are already some iris in the border which can be split

and moved further back, for the yellow, blue and purple areas.

Next to flower would be the Astilbes, I have some red and purple ones that can be split and moved.

These would flower along side the red, orange and yellow crocosmias, with of course “Lucifer” starting off the rainbow. I think I will have to buy some Phlox for the lilac/purple areas and maybe some Monardas, Willow Gentians and Fillipendula.

These would flower along side red, blue and purple lobelias which are almost the last to start flowering in September. Just bought these from our local garden centre.

Most of these plants I already have and they just need splitting and moving. Others I have already started growing from seed – the primulas which I brought back from Scotland, have provided me with lots of seeds  and are now sprouting nicely.

Already in the border are various hostas and ferns, hostas can stay where they are and ferns can be moved to where the green section will be.

with Rogersias and a Rheum palmatum, some of the Rogersias will need moving.

It will take a couple of years for everything to settle in and start increasing, but in the mean time I can dream of my rainbow. Can anyone think of anything else I should add, apart from the crock of gold at the end !!!

Gooseberries were huge,

the red ones are colouring up nicely.

Blackcurrants weighed in at 11 1/2  lbs, this is the most we have ever had from our 4 bushes.

Bee and butterfly border by the drive is open for business and has lots of visitors.

Rosa “Bonica” has gone mad – you can hardly see the carving of the owl with his pile of gardening books.

Iris ensata now out in full glory – had hoped it would be out for our open weekend – now we can enjoy it all by ourselves.

Lots of colour in the back at the moment.

Bog area has quite a lot to offer at the moment, although I have plans for improvement ever since I saw those wonderful drifts of primulas in all the Scottish gardens that we visited.

White flowers everywhere.

Day lilies flowering in every border, making the garden very colourful at this time of year.

Geranium “Spinners” going into overdrive with Clematis “Pagoda” – this geranium will be in flower all summer.

Just a long view of all the colour out at the moment.

This poppy has popped up from nowhere, such a lovely fringed edge to it. I do love these “freebies” that arrive unexpectedly, will definitely save seed from this one.

So all that we had to do when we returned from Scotland was cut the grass, lots of deadheading and just a bit of weeding, so now I think we can just relax and enjoy the summer with a long cold drink and a good book, sitting in the shade under the oak tree on the swinging seat – I wish !!!

Here we have a hosta next to an astilbe,  which are beside my favourite fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris. This fern is so big this year, in spite of the drought we are having at the moment.  Tucked at the front are the only flowers here , Primula Guinevere, which has purple foliage and this is next to Iris sibirica “Butter and Sugar” which will flower in about another months time.  Not only do you have contrasting shapes of leaves here but also of texture and colour, love this grouping.

Further along the same border ( this is the bog garden, in the shade, formed by an underground stream. This border never dries out – even in the driest of summers. ) we have the same fern, please don’t ask me to type it out again, with another hosta backed by a Rheum palmatum. To the right is Iris pseudacorus Variegata which will flower soon and the bright chartreuse flowers belong to Euphorbia palustris which loves the boggy ground here. I think there is  plenty of contrast in the different sizes and shapes of the leaves .

Another border which is drier and more sunny has Alchemilla mollis contrasting in shape and colour with Lysimachia ciliata Firecracker which itself contrasts with its neighbours Euonymous Emerald Gaiety and the shrub Physocarpus Dart’s Gold.

Hosta Minute Man is in a wooden planter and contrasts with the ivy around it and the miniature Clematis in the pot with it.

In a sunnier part of the garden Senecio has been planted with another Euonymous next to Cotinus coggygria. The white flowers in the background belong to Choisya ternata.

This photo shows the Hart’s tongue fern unrolling – I think they look really lovely at this stage – contrasting so beautifully with an epimedium which itself is next to one of the many pulmonarias which seed everywhere.

My old favourite again, this time with Arum italicum marmoratum, and you can just see a blue hosta in the lower right corner getting in on the act.

Starting at the bottom left, there are more astilbes which of course flower later in the summer, a lonely variegated flag iris, where have all its friends gone ? with Hosta Krossa Regal. Then there is my lovely fern again and behind it all, the yellow of Bowles golden grass.

Some people want colourful flowers all the time, and would find these groupings rather boring, but I am very happy indeed with such a colourful, textured tapestry formed by the foliage of beautiful plants, I hope you agree !

Bees are buzzing everywhere, the first one we noticed was a bumble bee who was wallowing in the crocus which were all open wide. While working on my knees amongst the bulbs I was being buzzed all the time, they are still visiting the snowdrops and have now discovered the hellebores which have opened at last.

We have seen our first ladybird

and now , have frogspawn in our pond, this is much later than usual.

Iris unguicularis is now back into flowering mode once more.

A lonely grape hyacinth is flowering in the woodland, I don’t remember planting this, wonder where it came from, as there are no others anywhere near it.

Narcissus Tete a Tete is starting the main flush of the yellow narcissus . Lovely small bulb, soon everywhere will look as though it has been brushed with yellow paint and that the sun is shining even on a dull day.

Pulmonarias are flowering everywhere, most of them are the ordinary one which seeds everywhere, but at this time of year they are very welcome.

Crocus tommasinianus is now feeding all the bees, a honey bee just didn’t want to be photographed,

got it this time though,

and again!!!

This small lilac coloured flower belongs to Cardamine pratensis, and has been planted to attract Orange Tip butterflies. This is spreading slowly and looks very pretty carpeting the woodland floor.

All the hellebores have now recovered from the heavy frosts and snow and are now looking fantastic, so many lovely ones,  they will have a post all to themselves.

All these flowers are there for the bees that have woken up with the warmer weather and I can rest happy knowing that the larder is well stocked with pollen and nectar. They have plenty of food and they, in their turn, are pollinating all my plants for me. So much is rushing into flower at the moment, so many new flowers each day, we will still have more frosts – hope they can all cope.

Apparantly the fallen branch that you see here came down the day before their first open day, 5th Feb. They were so thankful that the public were not there at the time and it was only the snowdrops that got squashed !!!

As well as the various snowdrops which were everywhere, no matter where you looked, other small bulbs have been planted to form a  contrast of colour. These are the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, looking much happier here than in my garden, and spreading around beautifully.

This clump of snowdrops was labeled ” Diggory ” and they are absolutely gorgeous. Only small in stature but they made up for that in having such fantastic round flowers.

Another general view of the woodland walk in the Park, the snowdrops here are ” James Backhouse”. This was formerly known as” Atkinsii” and is good for naturalising.

This is a view of “S.Arnott “, literally thousands of them and Colesbourne Park is reputed to have the best display of them in the country, I can believe it. While Ray and I were standing and admiring them we got into conversation with a charming gentleman and we agreed what a really good snowdrop it was and should be in everyones collection. It turned out that it was Sir Henry Elwes, the owner of Colesbourne Park and we both have them up our drives, mine is a much shorter drive than his!

More “S.Arnott” this time with cyclamen coum for company. There are lots of Cyclamen coum planted around the garden but also we saw lots of leaves of cyclamen hederifolium which flower in the autumn so with all the autumn tints this must be just as colourful later in the year.

Drifts of snowflakes, Leucojum vernum, hundreds of them, will mine ever spread to look as good as these, one day maybe.

On a steep bank we found a drift of Scilla siberica , such a tiny plant but what a fantastic colour blue. At home mine are not even showing yet.

In a glade beneath the very tall trees was a drift of Crocus  tommasineanus, hundreds of them. What a pity the sun wasn’t shining, they would have all opened up and looked a lot happier, even so , a beautiful scene.

Another general view of the woodland walk, snowdrops as far as the eye can see.

And even more bulbs, who can possibly say that gardens are boring in the winter !

These tiny little narcissus are not open properly yet, but I think they might be Narcissus cyclamineus where the outer petals will be swept back in line with the trumpet.Gorgeous little things.

Another large patch of Cyclamen coum, fantastic for contrasting with all the snowdrops.

Found a few Iris ” Katharine Hodgkin” in a border near to the house. Very understated and very beautiful.

Also saw a few Hellebores, like us , their hellebores are not firing on all cylinders yet. The  weather  in December and January has certainly held them back. We need another week of milder weather and then they will open properly.

The final part of our visit was to walk down by the lake at Colesbourne Park, even in the winter with no leaves on the trees it was so beautiful. The lake is very blue apparantly due to particles of clay suspended in the water, whatever the reason, it is a lovely shade of blue.

This was our final view before turning back towards the car park and the sales table! Did I succumb to temptation…….what do you think…….of course I did!!! My new snowdrops are “Colossus”, very tall and early flowering, should be out by Christmas, weather permitting. Also ” Lord Lieutenant ” which has horizontal flowers and commemorates Sir Henry  Elwes’ position as Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. My last one is “Lapwing” which has the most unusual inner markings and has been on my wish list for a long time.

While walking back to the car park,  past the Tea Room, a lady came out , wearing her apron, and got talking about the garden. She said that we were wonderful to come on such a miserable day, it was drizzling by now,when we looked at her name badge it said Carolyn Elwes – what a lovely couple sharing their superb garden with us all and giving us such wonderful memories. We will certainly be back.

I have read that wildlife will start with berries which are black, then purple, followed by red ones and then leave orange, yellow and white till last.

This is certainly true with the berries from Sambucus Black Lace here, this has fantastic pink flowers which are followed by black berries, they are eaten almost as soon as they are formed. The same goes for the black berries on our Amelanchier tree- when I went to photograph them they had all gone – the birds had got there first!

These lovely orange berries belong to Arum italicum marmoratum, a plant which likes the shade and has beautiful variegated marbling to the leaves. As well as the birds eating the berries, they are also enjoyed by the slugs !!

Rosa glauca is a beautiful rose – a very simple small pink flower accompanied by the most gorgeous blue grey foliage. The flowers are followed by these lovely hips which are enjoyed by the wildlife later in the winter.

Viburnum opulus has white flowers in the spring , similar to lacecap hydrangeas. These are followed in the autumn by clusters of bright red berries, which never seem to last very long. I’m sure that lots of these berries are eaten by small mammals as well as birds.

Clusters of berries follow the fantastically perfumed flowers of the honeysuckle. Many times, while we have been sitting under our honeysuckle covered arbour having a coffee, we have seen field voles scampering up and down, round and round the main stem, just like a helter skelter and running about among the berries – I’m sure they help the birds to eat them.

These amazing flower tassels belong to Leycesteria formosa. The small white flowers inside the purple bracts are followed by matching purple berries. Blackbirds love these berries and are probably responsible for all the seedlings found all over the garden!

Cotoneaster horizontalis is a wonderful plant for wildlife. Bees love it earlier in the year when in flower, it is usually buzzing with them. When the red berries arrive it is usually the thrushes and blackbirds who enjoy them.

Pyracantha is such a thorny bush, good for birds to nest in. White flowers, loved by the bees are followed by masses of berries, red, orange or yellow. Bushes with yellow or orange berries hang on to them for a long time, their berries are the last to be eaten.

Another plant which is invaluable to wildlife is Ivy. It is essential to the Holly Blue butterfly, along with Holly bushes. The bees go absolutely mad for the flowers which appear late in the year and the berries eventually form to provide essential food over the winter.

Our grandsons think the conkers produced by our Horse Chestnut trees are just for them – the squirrels think they are just to be buried in the lawn. I have even seen the squirrels eating the flower spikes in the spring, picking the spikes when still in bud and peeling them like a banana, before eating them. When they do this there aren’t many conkers in the autumn!!

These fantastic purple berries belong to Lonicera nitida.  We have a small hedge of it outside our kitchen window and one day I saw a blackbird obviously enjoying something delicious. I managed to photograph a couple of berries that he had missed – they really are an amazing colour.

Our purple Berberis bush produces so many wonderful reddish/purple berries that are exactly the same colour that the leaves become in the autumn – the whole bush just glows all day long.

We have plenty of holly bushes tucked away in the wilder corners of the garden, but never  seem to have many berries,  enough bushes though to keep the Holly Blue butterfly happy. The wildlife obviously enjoys eating the berries but the Holly Blue uses it, along with the ivy to lay their eggs, then we enjoy the butterflies in the summer.

In the shady parts of the garden, especially the woodland, we have a few Iris foetidissima. The flowers are rather quiet, they don’t shout at you like some Iris flowers do, but when Autumn arrives and the seedheads split open, wow, what a difference! Fantastic orange berries shine out of all the dark corners, I presume that they are spread around by the birds, and I have to be very grateful for that because sometimes they grow in places where nothing else will.

From this I think our bushes and trees are producing so many berries that the wildlife in the garden must be exceedingly well fed. As well as all the birds which enjoy the food, we have lots of small mammals, mice, voles and shrews, which share the feast – and dare I say it – these in turn feed the tawny owl that we hear at night just as we are drifting off to sleep!!!

I feel that I ought to add a P.S. about the order in which the birds eat the berries. Our  Pyracantha bush in the front by the entrance was covered with orange berries, by mid November it had been stripped bare. Next door has a red berried bush trained up their garage wall, just 20 feet away, it is still covered in berries, I can only assume the birds have not read my nature book!

The rest of the garden is looking good ready for our open weekend in 2 weeks time — rhododendrons and azaleas are looking fantastic at the moment. Will they still be out or will they be over? The roses are just starting to flower along with all the clematis, they should be looking wonderful in 2 weeks time. Iris, peony and poppies are just starting and the bog garden and ditch are looking very lush with all their contrasting foliage and pretty with all the candelabra primulas. Hostas are looking very good and getting bigger and bigger each year – some are really huge now and seem to be able to withstand attacks from slugs & snails now that they are older plants.

We actually took Sunday afternoon off – a rest from all the weeding. We spent a lovely afternoon looking at other peoples gardens in Talaton, a pretty village just a few miles from here. Lovely plants to look at and buy, we came home with our batteries recharged and full of enthusiasm for our own plot. The best time is wandering around the garden at 5.30am with a mug of tea and my tame robin for company, it is a magical time – everything is so fresh, flowers are looking beautiful with the rising sun shining through them – it makes all the hard work worth while.