A Sea of Salmon.

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Pauline

I went for coffee the other week with my friend Jean who is a brilliant gardener with an equally brilliant garden ! When I visited in the summer I didn’t think to take my camera with me and immediately regretted it, her garden is always looking so beautiful, this time I made sure the camera came with me. As soon as I stepped into the conservatory for my coffee, I was surrounded with a sea of salmon ! This beautiful Datura ( I think these days they are called Brugmansia, but I can’t keep up with all the new names) was in the corner, taking pride of place.

Brugmansia

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Foliage Day

Posted on October 22, 2011 by Pauline

Once again, Christina is hosting a Foliage Day over @ Creating my own garden of the Hesperides. This time I thought I would just show a few autumn tints because the evergreens/golds/silvers will be with us for the next month and for the rest of the winter. This photograph is of one of our Horse Chestnut trees and the shrubs below. These shrubs are all over 6ft tall, so that gives you some indication of how tall the Chestnut tree is. Starting at the right, the shrubs are the golden Philadelphus, a blue cedar, variegated laurel and a cotoneaster hedge.

Chestnut tree

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Preparing for Winter.

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Pauline

After last years bad winter that we had here, when we lost a few plants or had damage done in the garden due to the snow lying for so long, now is the time to begin preparing for winter and whatever the weather will throw at us.

Schwartzcopf

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Berries for the birds.

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Pauline

Now is the time of year for us to repay the birds in our garden for eating all the nasty grubs etc. that try to ruin the look of our plants. I can’t say that I have noticed any damage to my plants, so the birds have obviously been doing their job. Now its my turn to say thank you to them by providing berries for the birds to help them survive the winter, as well as plenty of food on the bird table.

These amazing purple berries are enjoyed by the blackbirds, the berries are not easy for us to see, but the blackbirds just work their way along the Lonicera hedge, from one end to the other, feeding furiously as they go.

Lonicera berries

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The Beauty of Spider’s Webs.

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Pauline

The really lovely hot weather that we have been enjoying, has meant that on a couple of mornings we have got up to thick fog.  Not to worry, this is the best time to see the beauty of spider’s webs glistening in the sunlight when the sun eventually burns the fog away. Rather than just comment on the pictures I thought I would dig up a few facts, so all my information comes from Wikipedia and now I will share them with you, along with the photos I took a few mornings ago.

Web

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Buy one, get hundreds free.

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Pauline

I have found in the past that no sooner have I planted a new plant , than there it is , all over the garden, sometimes this is an asset, especially when doing a new border, all the empty spaces fill in no time. Also the books and magazines tell us that it is good to have a linking theme round the whole of the garden.There are times however, when a firm hand is needed to sort things out. A plant that is welcome anywhere it chooses is Verbena bonariensis, this seeds about on my heavy clay, but it is never a problem. Only one plant was bought, but now it has spread through a couple of borders. Each year I wonder if I have lost it over the winter, but by summer time, there it is once more, keeping the bees and butterflies happy.

V. bonariensis

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September roundup

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Pauline

The weather in September has been quite kind to us in the SW of the UK, a bit of rain, a bit of sun, lots of cloud, bit of fog and not much wind. The last couple of days though, have been amazingly hot and sunny, poor plants just don’t know what to do. Some shrubs are flowering again along with autumn tints – they are so confused. There are a few plants that have been flowering all through the summer into autumn and I think the main one is lovely Verbena bonariensis, it just gets better and better as the weeks go by.

V.bonariensis

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Harvesting Fruit and Veg from the garden.

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Pauline

The garden is still providing us with plenty to eat, mealtimes are quite interesting still. We will never be self sufficient, would have to turn all the garden over to fruit and veg for that to happen, but it is nice being able to grow what is most expensive in the shops. Must grow more rhubarb, there was plenty for us to eat while in season, but it would be lovely to have some to freeze for crumbles etc. in the winter.

Rhubarb

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Foliage Day.

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Pauline

Christina @ Creating my own garden of the Hesperides, is hosting this Foliage Day meme so that we can appreciate the beauty of foliage and see which foliage is still looking good after the summer. When planting a new border I am always conscious of trying to make pleasing groups with contrasting colour, shape and texture of leaves so that when plants are not in flower they are still interesting and contrast with their neighbours. As yet our autumn tints are few and far between and here in the UK a lot of foliage is starting to die down but we still have plenty  which is in good condition and worthy to be photographed. I think foliage is the backbone of the garden, flowers come and go, but foliage is with us much longer and sets the flowers off beautifully. Lots of ferns have already collapsed for the winter, but there are a few that are still adding to the overall scene. This fern contrasts with the hellebore next to it and the variegated vinca and lamium.

Ferns

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A good year for Butterflies.

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Pauline

Even though we haven’t had a wonderfully hot, sunny summer, we certainly have had plenty of butterflies and other insects flying around the garden and adding extra colour. Early in the spring we had plenty of Orange Tips but they are so fast and never seem to settle for very long, so I was unable to manage to take any photos of these or the Brimstones which visited later. Was more successful with the Small Tortoiseshells which are visiting now.

Tortoiseshell

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