Usually when we go into the garden, a general look around will show that the dominant colour is green. Not any more, the whole garden has a mellow, yellow look about it as plants finally change colour and start to die back ready for winter. I started my wandering this time, in the woodland and went anti clockwise instead of the usual clockwise, don’t ask me why, I’ve no idea!
Woodland, looking left.
What a difference a week makes, the green is rapidly disappearing from the garden, being replaced by yellow, orange and red. The little tree Prunus Kojo -no-mai is a good example of this, it really looks like a burning bush at the moment. The strong winds and rain are bringing lots of leaves down, but not on Kojo-no-mai, she is hanging on tight to all her leaves and making a wonderful show, I think this year is the best year yet.
Prunus Kojo-no-mai.
Looking at October’s photos yesterday, I found a few which don’t really justify a post to themselves, so I thought I would collect them together and show a mixed bag.
Starting with the wonderful sunrise I found the morning after the clocks went back 1 hour.
Sunrise at 6am.
I would have missed this beautiful sunrise if the alarm hadn’t gone off at 6am instead of the usual 7 am. The clock changes the time automatically, but doesn’t seem to change the alarm until after it has woken us up!
Sunny days and cold nights are the trigger for the autumn tints to start. Some of my trees and bushes are still waiting, I suppose the night time temperatures have to drop a little further before the chlorophyll switches off. There are plenty of signs though that changes are taking place, starting with the Amelanchier at the right hand end of the bog garden.
Amelanchier lamarkii
The other morning, I had to be very careful which path I took in the garden as they were festooned with cobwebs. It was a bit foggy and the moisture had settled on the webs, looking like diamonds catching the light as the sun tried to break through.
Weeds have their uses!
Books on garden design mention how to use a focal point in a garden, but they also stress that it shouldn’t dominate and take the eye away from the plants. You should also only be able to see one feature at a time so that it leads you through the garden. I wonder how we would all have dealt with the structure that we saw yesterday, what would we have made of this….? Continue reading
The flowers keep coming, but I think with our colder weather coming from Russia at the moment, they will now slow down. There is no doubt that it is autumn, the sun is lower in the sky, night time temperatures have dropped even though daytime temperatures are holding up. Today I brought all my plants in that have to come in to survive, we still haven’t had frost yet, but it can’t be long before we do.
Hydrangea
This Hydrangea under the kitchen window is still putting out new blooms, a few were cut for part of the decoration for church last week. Continue reading
What is looking good today, good enough to be linked to “Looking good on Friday” hosted by Gillian at Country Garden UK... Once again it turned out to be something that has been flowering for quite some time now, but is still putting out new flowers…….Colchicums.
Colchicums.
As the days go by, I’m finding more and more berries ripening in the garden. Our birds , insects and animals come to rely on what is growing in our gardens. Those that will be hibernating have to stock up on food, eating as much as they can so that they will survive through the winter. I’m thinking of our little Dormouse that will sleep until April!
Pyracantha.
Birds come to eat the berries on offer, sometimes these are birds from way up in the north that have come south or west to milder conditions in Britain. Usually strong easterly winds bring Fieldfares and Redwings from the Continent and bushes can be stripped in just a couple of days.
When looking round the garden today for something that is looking good, the Rudbeckia jumped out at me. It has been flowering for over a month now and is still putting out new buds, so should be flowering for some time to come.
Rudbeckia.
This the ordinary variety, Rudbeckia fulgida Goldsturm. It has an AGM from the RHS Society which signifies that it has stood the test of time and I think deservedly so.
Rudbeckia.
I have a few clumps dotted round the garden, but I think some need splitting now as the clumps have grown rather large.
Rudbeckia.
It makes a good bedfellow with Aster frickartii Monch which has been flowering for such a long time now.
Rudbeckia
We have had so much sun lately, but even if the sun wasn’t shining, it would look like patches of sunlight in the garden.
Rudbeckia.
This clump is down by the greenhouse, but I think I will move it when it has finished flowering, to the border by the field.
Having just done a post about the cyclamen in the woodland, which would have been my first choice, it was the Rudbeckias which jumped out at me as they are such a bright splash of sunshine yellow. They are increasing all the time and will be one of the essential plants for my late summer border.
Thanks to Gillian at Country Garden UK for hosting this meme, do pay her a visit to see which other plants are looking good at the moment.
