IAVOM ~ Fall Back

 

With the clocks falling back an hour this weekend there's no denying that autumn is well and truly here and that the nights are lengthening. It's not my favourite time of the year and I'm already counting down towards the winter solstice. The weather was suitably dire this weekend with strong cold winds and intermittent rain some of it heavy. I picked the contents of my vase on Saturday to photograph not knowing what today would bring. As it's turned out it has been much drier and although still windy the direction of that wind is changing becoming milder.

In my vase this week are :

• Rudbeckia 'Enchanted Flame' - a new to me this year plant which were purchased as my usual sowing of Rudbeckia 'Sahara' was a complete and utter flop. This is a tender perennial which I shall be bringing into the greenhouse soon along with the dahlias. 
• The red foliage is chard' Bright Lights' which produces a mix of edible leaves with stems that produce a rainbow of colours. I use them in salads and sow them most years. I didn't this year but bought some plug plants from a local garden centre in late summer.
• Finally for the scent factor a couple of sprigs of mint. I've lost track of which this one is but think it may be pineapple mint. 

Thanks as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who gently encourages us to collect something from our gardens to show in a vase every Monday. Do pay her a visit if you haven't already.

This week's garden tasks include more bulb planting and leaf sweeping. A confession to make - a second albeit smaller bulb order arrived last week on the heels of the first delivery. We are also making our way through deciding what to do with our bumper apple crop apart from eat them and give them away. There's a supply of stewed apples in the freezer and we will be making a batch of spiced apple chutney later this week. The remaining necessary were bought this morning so we're all set to go. Any other suggestions as to how to use up surplus apples are welcome although preferably not anything involving cake 😂  Wishing everyone a good week both in and out of the garden.

In A Vase On Monday ~ The Late Show

 My vase today is a hotch potch of late blooming flowers namely :

• A trio of very pink and frilly cosmos flowers - these emerged from a packet of the annual cosmos bipannatus 'Double Click Cranberries' which they are most definitely not. At least this colourway was only to be found on one plant - the others being true to their name but to my surprise I've become quite fond of this errant imposter.
• A single flower of the lovely perennial that is aster frikartii 'Mönch' - with larger flowers than aster 'Little Carlow' but a very similar colour.
• A couple of geranium 'Azure Rush' flowers. I've bought a couple of plants to replace two hardy geranium 'Rozanne' plants which have been occupying space in a border for about five years or so. I love 'Rozanne' but she sprawls and rudely elbows her neighbours out of the way. 'Azure Rush' is very similar in colour, flowers just as late on into autumn but fingers crossed has a more compact habit. I plan to pass a 'Rozanne' on to a friend if she's amenable to providing her with a good home and use the other in a pot.

Thanks Cathy for your excellent hosting skills. 'In A Vase On Monday' can be found weekly over at Cathy's blog 'Rambling in The Garden' when bloggers from all over share their weekly pickings. 

It's been a dry and settled week with pleasant temperatures ideal for getting on with gardening jobs including bulb planting and the serious leg of seemingly never ending task of leaf sweeping and bagging up. Fortunately for me himself does more than his fair share of this as there are a number of large trees in the vicinity. Serious rain stopped play yesterday though and it looks as if we're in for a mainly wet week ahead so I'll be retreating to the greenhouse to do some more bulb planting in pots. I've also got one or two September sown hardy annuals that I'm going to risk pricking out into small pots before it gets much colder. I wonder what everybody else is up to in their gardens this coming week 🤔

IAVOM ~ 'Isle Of Capri'

There are definitely fewer and fewer flowers about now but here is a small picking for this week's 'In A Vase On Monday' in which there are :

• Astrantia 'Capri' - this is the second new to me astrantia purchase this year. I came across the plant in the plant sales area at Hampton Gardens in Herefordshire when we were on holiday last month. The name sung out to me as Capri is the island where my parents honeymooned in 1950. I've mentioned before on my blog that my Mum was Italian by birth and was born what was then a small town not far from Rome. Her family though moved to Rome during the war. At one point I had astrantia 'Roma' in the garden but she has sadly vamooshed. I hope to replace her and perhaps add other astrantias named after Italian cities namely Milan,Venice and Florence. I wonder if there are others. Unusually for me I had considered a prop last night but some unexpected overnight rain spoilt my plans. It was going to be a music box still in working order which my parents bought as a souvenir of their stay. I wind it it up every now and again to simply listen and to be transported to childhood days when it was a special treat to wind the music box up.
• Unknown long lost label variety of persicaria.
• Some flowers from the lovely perennial aster 'Little Carlow' - this was in flower at the beginning of September if not before and although beginning to go over it is still throwing out colour and attracts pollinators. 

The vase is the second of two vases that I treated myself this year on our holidays. This vase was bought at Stockton Bury Gardens, also in Herefordshire which was staging an exhibition of various crafts when we visited as part of Herefordshire Arts Week. One of the exhibitors was a potter who began to work with clay just after the 2021 lockdowns and who has fallen in love with ceramics. Looking at her work it was impossible to guess that she was still a relative novice. 

Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' who convenes our weekly floral get togethers. Do over to her blog if you haven't done so already!

For the last week since Storm Amy partied for an entire weekend the weather here has been calm and dry with some occasional pleasant sunshine thrown in. The coming week promises to deliver more of the same which is most welcome as there are various jobs to be done including making inroads into planting the contents of my bulb delivery which arrived late last week. Now just where am I going to plant them all 🤔😂