Sorry, but while sitting here doing nothing, I’ve had a long time to think about this subject. Just how many more trees are we supposed to lose in the UK before something is done so that we don’t lose any more? Trees are so precious, they are the lungs of the planet that clean the air for us mammals to breathe, taking in carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen. Trees are where thousands, if not millions of insects live, which feed the birds etc, so they are vital in the foodchain. Some varieties of trees live for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and are part of the landscape that we and our ancestors all grew up with, so when something goes wrong and our favourite trees are dying, then we quite rightly get annoyed.
Wonderful Acers at Westonbirt.
I was so worried that we had missed the wonderful show of colour at Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, but yesterday we went and the colours were absolutely amazing. Lots of leaves had fallen but there were still plenty left for us to enjoy. Last year we went to the original Old Arboretum which dates from 1850s, so this time we decided to walk round part of Silk Wood which is still a working woodland with newish exotic planting among the towering ancient trees. It wasn’t long before I spied a beautiful splash of colour from one of the many Acers which we had come to see.
Thank you.
I’m back, but first of all I would like to thank you all for your concern, lovely messages and good wishes. I have had a super rest after my shoulder op, it has been wonderful doing nothing for a change, being waited on, having all my meals cooked for me and catching up on all my reading of gardening books, magazines, yes, seed catalogues and your blogs!
Beautiful floral arrangement from the ladies at church.
The shoulder is coming along nicely, I’m able to do more each day, the exercises are certainly working. I went yesterday to have the dressing removed, such tiny holes for keyhole surgery, its amazing what they can do these days. Finally I can have a proper shower and remove all the felt tip pen marks that the surgeon had put all over my shoulder, he had fun while I was asleep!
Lovely autumn colours from a super son and dil.
My cataract operation which was supposed to take place today has had to be postponed due to an infection which has suddenly flared up, couldn’t believe it when I saw my eye first thing this morning! Turned up at the hospital as requested but wasn’t surprised when the surgeon wanted to delay the op.
Elegant and sophisticated roses from our beautiful daughter and family.
I will wait just a few more days, then I think I will be able to start cutting back and tidying in the garden, just a bit at a time, as long as I don’t try to stretch too far! Beautiful autumn tints have arrived in Devon at last, the Acers are now putting on a wonderful display, they are so reliable, so must do a post about them.
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Phew, just in time !
As most of you know, I sent off for lots of lovely plants recently, which then arrived very promptly. A few days ago I got a phone call from the hospital in Exmouth saying that they had a cancellation on October 25th, would I like to come for my shoulder op that day! Yes, fine, but oh dear so much to do first. The last of the plants must go in, Christmas cake to be made as well as Christmas puddings. Finish preparing and freezing the apples picked from the garden, finish cooking and freezing cakes to be sold in aid of charity on Bonfire Night (Nov 5th) in Ottery St. Mary, Devon. ( you may see it sometimes on the news because of the Flaming Tar Barrels being run through the town on the backs of men, women and children!). Go shopping for a new dressing gown, mine isn’t fit to be seen by the general public ! Get up to date with the housework, goodness knows how long it will be before it will get done again, I think that’s it, everything was just about done in time, thanks to lots of help from the under-gardener!
This is where I fell last February, in between the box balls. Why couldn’t I have landed on one of the box balls instead of the paving, I wouldn’t have done so much damage to my shoulder muscles if I had, maybe subconsciously I was trying to avoid squashing my precious plants!
This is me now, sling will have to stay in place for a few days, not too sure how I will cope with blogging, yes, I wrote this before I went in. Will try to keep in touch with you but I may be missing for a bit, depends how I get on using my left hand and with physiotherapy exercises. In the meantime I will also have a cataract operation on November 6th, so soon, I hope, I should be a new woman!! Even if I can’t leave any comments for a while, I know I will enjoy reading all your posts over the next few weeks, keeping me in touch with the gardening world out there!
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The start of the Autumn Fireworks. GBFD.
No, I don’t mean the things that go bang in the night, just the beautiful colours that are now being revealed as the green colour in the leaves is turned off and we are able to see all the different underlying colours. The ‘experts’ say that it is warm sunny days and cold nights that trigger this process. We have had some sunny days but I can’t say the nights have been too cold so far. Everywhere seems to have a golden glow from all the yellow leaves at the moment. We start with the view from inside one of the kitchen windows, nearly all foliage, but I think still interesting.
Still flowering.
October seems to be flying by, the days are getting cooler, the nights getting longer but there are still plenty of flowers shining in the garden. Gales have made rather a mess of some plants and the garden in general, but even so, it is still worth a wander round just to see what there is. This first one is Fuchsia Genii which I forgot to include in my post about Fuchsias, they are all still flowering madly.
Christmas has come early.
…….or it seems as if it has. Every day a new parcel of goodies arrives and the anticipation while opening the boxes is just as exciting as when opening presents at Christmas when a child! It is so easy to send off orders with a lap top and card and then just sit back and wait for all those special plants, seeds and bulbs to arrive.
Will there be enough berries to go round?
Having just done a post about the lack of bees to pollinate our fruit bushes and trees has led me to wonder how the birds will manage this winter. If there weren’t enough bees to make our fruit, would there have been enough bees to pollinate all the flowers that make the berries in the garden – will there be enough berries to go round when winter arrives?
The red and orange berried pyracanthas have some berries on them, but not as many as previous years.
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Tagged Arum, Berberis, Cotoneaster, food for birds, Hawthorn, Honeysuckle, Leycesteria, Lonicera, Ophiopogon, Pyracantha, rose hips
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An Apple a Day.
With such a cold wet spring and summer, bees were in short supply when all the fruit trees needed pollinating. We had plenty of blossom, in fact masses of it, but hadn’t realised that the flowers weren’t being pollinated, in future I will have to go round all my cordon fruit trees with a paint brush, buzzing as I go! Our Bramley apple tree was here when we came and is now rather large, far to big for me to pollinate it, but this tree at least has had a reasonable amount of fruit which we picked the other day.
All change again!
Last year it was the bog garden that had an overhaul and is still in the process of developing. This time it is the border at the side by the field that is in desperate need of a make-over. The tiny bushes we planted about 18 yrs ago are now huge and leaning forward, depriving the plants in front of light and air. I never remember to take photos before we start work, but this is when we have started to cut back the first conifer.
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Tagged cuttings, improvements, overhauling borders, sowing seeds, weeding
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