Was that Frost last night ?

So many times this winter we have had frost forecast, so the fleece has come out in the greenhouse, heater on in the conservatory and the next morning , nothing, everywhere still green. Not that I am complaining mind you, but the Met. Office for the whole country is only 5 miles down the road on the outskirts of Exeter and they seem to have great difficulty in getting our local weather correct, never mind everyone elses ! Last night , once again, frost was forecast and we thought, should we, shouldn’t we, prepare again ? Just as well we did, there was a very slight frost but there weren’t loads of pretty frosted leaves for me to photograph for you I’m afraid.

Frost

Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Dormouse S.O.S.

As most of you may know, we live in the countryside, on the edge of a village in Devon. On one side we have neighbours, on another a field, on a third is the road through the village and on the fourth is a small school. When we first moved here 21 years ago it was the village school that we had next to us and everything was fine. It was only a couple of years before the school closed due to lack of children, there were only 12 attending the school, so it wasn’t surprising when this happened.

Bendarroch

Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , | 28 Comments

Coloured Stems and Verticals

Now that the summer flowers are coming to an end at last and the beautiful autumn tints have finally blown away, there is still colour to be had in the garden, along with all the evergreens. Coloured stems and verticals of tree trunks provide winter colour for the next four months and brighten up any gloomy winter’s day.

Jaquemontii & Cornus

Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Time to Tidy the Hellebores.

I don’t know if it is just us in the UK that have to tidy our hellebore leaves away so that they don’t spoil the flowers which will come in a couple of months time.  Maybe it is because we live in a warm, damp climate that causes them to get a form of black spot similar to roses and the spores are passed onto the flowers as they emerge through the soil. I know , just once when I didn’t remove the damaged leaves, the flowers looked so awful and had to be cut away. If we all want to have flowers looking as they should, then I’m afraid there is work to be done.  This is what I am hoping to see in a few weeks time.

Hellebores

Continue reading

Posted in Hints and Tips | Tagged , | 26 Comments

November round up.

Apologies to anyone who wasn’t able to leave a comment on my last post, somehow the “gremlins” had got in and were preventing anyone from leaving a comment. I have had a word with the “gremlin” and hopefully this will never happen again, it should be possible to leave a message now.

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.

Delta Sarah

Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

GBFD. The Last Leaves of Autumn.

What a strange autumn it has been so far, no frosts yet where we are, which we are told help to form the wonderful colours that we see on our trees and shrubs. However the colours have been stunning as usual, now though, blown away on the southerly wind which has been bringing us such warmth all the way from Africa. There are just a few trees and shrubs still hanging onto their autumn finery or still showing their true colours as they lie on the ground. My first photo is of one of the last gorgeous leaves of Acer Osakazuki trapped in amongst the leaves of Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens, I admit, I combed all the other leaves away with my fingers as I thought the red and black looked so good together.

Osakazuki with Ophiopogon

Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A walk in the park.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, so we decided to go for a walk in the local National Trust woodland called ” Prickly Pear Blossoms Park”. I don’t know how it got it’s name, but the land was given to the National Trust in 1904 for  ” the public use and  enjoyment of the local people”. Well, the local people are certainly still enjoying  this gift of  land, usually for walking their dogs ( it was one of our favourite walks when we had our dog ) and riding their horses, we should all be very grateful to W. Nation Esq. of Rockbeare.

PPBP stone

Continue reading

Posted in News, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Confused

The weather we have been having during October has our poor plants so confused that they think spring has arrived already. It has been so warm, for the time of year, with the wind coming up from Africa, the few days that the wind was coming from the north, the promised frost didn’t arrive in the SW corner of the UK, my plants that have been protected must be sweltering under their covers !!! Usually we have had a frost by Oct.15 but so far not here. My first photo is of a very confused Epimedium.

Epimedium

Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Wow for Westonbirt.

We have had the most wonderful visit to Westonbirt Arboretum in Gloucestershire, a few days ago, to experience all the fantastic autumn tints that they have at this time of year, and I have just got to share the photos with you. There are not many places that I have been to that have stopped me in my tracks because the “wow” factor has been so great, but believe me, there was a “wow” round every corner at Westonbirt.

Main Drive Acers

Continue reading

Posted in News | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Last flowers of Summer.

Are these the last flowers of summer or will there be more, who knows? When wandering around the garden, camera at the ready, I think it is amazing the plants that are still putting out new buds and that the odd flower or two are still enjoying the autumn sunshine. We have had a spell of warmer weather with the wind coming up from Africa and at last a load of rain arrived from Spain. What a difference the rain has made, it has given a very dry garden a new lease of life, just when I thought everything was shutting down. The roses are putting out lots of new buds, this one is Bonica, with plenty of buds still to come.

R. Bonica

Continue reading

Posted in News, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments