November Thoughts

"November provides us with a breathing point. Colour is going, if not gone, and branches are newly naked, revealing the bones of things. Scarlet hips are left starkly alone in the hedgerows, and the floor is littered with the fruit of a growing season. Birds are moving seed about, windfalls pecked to little more than skins. We may well have had the first frost by now; if not, it is sure to hit by the end of the month. With it the dahlias are suddenly blackened, to leave behind just a trace of their autumn bulk. The brick-red schizostylis and lipstick-pink nerine continue to flare for a while, yet in stark and diminishing contrast to the decline around them. There are a few other flowers out - perhaps a rose or two looking out of placeand left behind - so they are doubly welcome.

We are surrounded by rot and decay, but it is not a death to be disturbed by but rather celebrated as the cusp of this annual cycle. It's an appropriate time to pause for thought, and, with it, the potential for new planting. 

I wait until the garden starts to feel on the wrong side of neglect, before imposing any order, and even then I favour a less-is-more approach. Sweeping the mouldering leaves from the lawn or terrace imposes a little order on the chaos and allows you to stand back for a while to assess the departure of the growing season, but the pause is brief: there are tulips to put in the ground, plants that need their winter protection , and the season for planting bare-root trees and shrubs opens up again as nurseries start lifting them before the ground freezes. Use the time well to plant before the year is out and new plantings will be settled in before the worst of the winter arrives."

- an extract from 'Natural Selection' by Dan Pearson. 

- illustration by Eugene Grasset.  

November Notes - Garden Diary

Time to catch up with my somewhat neglected virtual garden diary. It has been a really beautiful weekend here. Calm, blue skies and sunshine throughout. It has also been a most pleasant temperature - yesterday was so mild that I was able to potter about in the garden wearing a t-shirt rather a warm fleece which is my normal November gardening attire. We have still to experience our first hard frost although there was a slight trace of white on our neighbour's roof one morning last week. It soon evaporated though. My priority this weekend was filling the green waste bin which will be wheeled up our lane on Monday ready for the last collection of the year so of course I just had to cram in as much as possible. The service resumes in the third week of February and by then the bin will no doubt be full to the brim again. Earlier this week the monthly speaker at my local u3a gave a talk on the subject of waste disposal which after a dry start turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. It was fascinating to find out out what happens to the contents of each bin once it is emptied.

There was time though after the hard work for exploration. The most exciting discovery was to see some seedlings of arum mamoratum italicum poking through the ground. I wasn't sure what they were at first until I saw the distinctive black spotting on the leaves. Funnily enough I recently saw an episode of Carol Klein's great television series on autumnal gardening, in which she sowed fresh seeds of this striking foliage plant. The next day I collected the bright red berries from my plant to sow. Obviously nothing has happened as yet but was I most delighted to see these self-seeders. Funnily enough I had been talking to a friend about sowing these the seeds and she mentioned that she found them self-seeding in her garden but this is the first time I have had the pleasure. I will have to extract them sooner and later as they are in a place where they could easily be accidentally trodden on and somebody in this household does have rather large feet. 

On the subject of Carol Klein one excellent series has finished but a continuation of the programmes where she visits one garden over the course of a year has replaced it. This is on Channel 5 on Thursdays at 7.00 pm and well worth watching whenever you can.

 

In the same border another surprise was waiting for me - the not unexpected signs of snowdrop snouts poking through the ground. The first to reveal themselves this year are the early flowering 'Fieldgate Prelude' and 'Philippe Andre Meyer which I thought flowered later. Of course there is always the possibility that the squirrels might have been switching the labels for fun so I will just have to be patient and wait to see what happens. I have previously noted that my pots of special snowdrops had snouts coming through but these are the first to come through in the garden. 

Another bulb that is showing and is not far off from flowering is the diminutive and early flowering narcissus 'Cedric Morris'. The flower buds are very much in evidence but no sign of colour yet.

In other news the pile of bulbs to be planted is I'm glad to report slowly diminishing. The containers that were virtually emptied over the weekend and contents snipped for the green bin can now be planted with the tulips that have been patiently waiting in the shed. In the meantime I'm tempted to order one or two more packets of bulbs at half price and then of course it will soon be time to seriously start to study seed catalogues in earnest. First and foremost plans are afoot to sow some sweet peas next month - a first for me so the supplies need restocking. I wonder what everyone is else is up to in their gardens at the moment.

IVOM - Pieces Of Eight

Today sees eight years of a weekly celebration of vases containing a myriad of wonderful flowers and foliage and other plant material along the way. Although I didn't join in posting with in 'A Vase On Monday' from the start I think that that my first vase came along the following spring. As with all other autumn or winter birthday celebrations there are perhaps not as many choices on offer. Today though Cathy invited us to pick perhaps some material that might be sometimes regarded as past its sell by date but is still every bit as beautiful in it's own right. I have to admit that my flowers are not dried as such but at this stage of the year they are certainly faded or air dried. In my vase today are :

• Some lunaria annua or annual honesty seed heads - purple or white spring flowers, plain green, purple or variegated leaves followed by seed cases which resemble fabulous silvery shining paper moons. No doubt they creep into a good few households including mine every festive season.
• Some seed heads of papaver 'Lauren's Grape' which flowers a delicious deep purple plum colour. I leave a few on every winter and am rewarded with seedlings the following year.
• A couple of seed heads of daucus carrota. I noticed today that the stems are now a red colour. I'm sure that they were green in the summer. I must look more closely year. 
• Some fading flowers of physocarpus, probably 'Diablo'.
• Finally a sprig of panicum capillare 'Sparkling Fountain' which caught my attention when it floated past the window one windy afternoon last month. I braved the elements to rescue it and shook the remaining seeds into a bowl. Thinking that it might come in handy for something it has been sitting in the greenhouse ever since.

I paused for sometime when I had put everything into my vase convinced that something vital was missing before I realised that of course for once no water was required! 

Thanks as always dear Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for your dedication and love in keeping us gathering virtually on Mondays to share our weekly pickings. This habit has certainly widened my knowledge of plants as well as improving my powers of observation.  I do get fond of my Monday snippings and am sad when they exit to the compost heap or green bin but then I smile as there's never long to wait until another Monday comes along.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 'Fatal Attraction'

IAVOM ~ Still Giving

Cathy has reminded us that 'In A Vase On Monday' will shortly be celebrating

eight years of posts which is hard to believe! Just where has that time gone? Although I didn't contribute in the very early days I think that I posted my first vase the following spring and what fun it has been to contribute over the years. In my vase some this week a few of of the generous flowers that keep on giving namely : 

• Rosa 'Blush Noisette' - I'm not sure whether this is a second or third flush of this climbing rose. Her main show was in the summer. She still has a lot of unopened flower buds but I don't think that they will get the chance to flower now.
• Some cosmos bipinnatus' Double Click Cranberries' flowers. I like these although some of them haven't doubled clicked. I sowed them quite late on probably mid April. Their white flowering sibling 'Purity' which I may have sowed a couple of weeks earlier have fizzled out. The latter were grown in a pot (not to be repeated) and a wasp's nest in the roof above them perhaps meant that I wasn't as eager to dead-head them regularly. 
• Some seed-heads of daucus carota grown from seed sown earlier this spring. I have a batch of September sown seedlings which need potting up but also think that I will leave this year's plants in place as apparently they can be short lived perennials depending on the winter. It will be interesting to see what happens.
• Finally a couple of sprigs of achillea millefolum 'Summer Berries' which were sown at the beginning of September last year. The packet promised a variety of colours but most of the few other plants that I planted didn't prosper or have failed to flower this year. This was has a pinky peach tone and as it is a perennial I hope that there are better things to come next year.

Thanks as always to Cathy over 'At Rambling In The Garden' and to all the other bloggers who contribute to make this meme so much fun as well as inspiring to visit. Wishing you all a good week and hope that you get the opportunity to spend some time in your gardens.                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Lovely 'Dilys'

IAVOM ~ Bring Me Sunshine

 

A lightening pick, plonk and photograph for this week's 'In A Vase On Monday' snipped in a break in the showers. I'm in dire need of some sunshine or failing that at least a break from the wet stuff that seems to have been stuck overhead for the last week or so! There's only so much housework that I can tolerate. In my milk bottle instant sunshine has been provided by :

• The yellow daisy of anthemis 'E.C. Buxton' which started life as a cutting on a propagation course I took at a local nursery. It is a trouble free perennial it's only fault is that it opens a shade of yellow that's just a tad too bright for me. It does fade though to a much more attractive softer yellow. It flowers throughout the summer right up to the first frosts and is most generous with its flowers.
• A single of stem of the half hardy perennial rudbeckia 'Sahara' - a favourite of mine. It has sadly struggled this year from sowing onwards and didn't appreciate the wet August. Even the molluscs who usually show disdain for the slightly rough leaves have shown an unwelcome interest.
• A couple of flowers of cosmos bippinatus 'Purity' - I love the never ending supply of white flowers throughout the summer but the plants are lanky and need support. The search is on for shorter white flowering cosmos for next year.
• Finally a flower of my new to me this year rose 'Bathsheba'. Her colour and shape have lived up to my expectations but sadly not her scent but that could be down to my nose. After some minor surgery on that aforesaid part of my anatomy a few years ago I'm convinced that my scent of smell has diminished. I often confer with rose loving friend on the scent of roses. She has some of the same roses as me which is most useful but she does not grow this one. I was most relieved when after a close up and personal sniff of my rose she told me that she wasn't picking up much scent either. Earlier this summer I was stopped in my tracks in her garden by the scent coming from rose 'Eustacia Vye', so it has gone on my list of plants to investigate further over the longer nights. 

Thanks must go to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for her gentle encouragement to get out there and snip each week.  It's great to see what other people are cutting and enjoying especially as the year goes on. This afternoon's forecast thunder and lightening haven't materialised yet and there is a most welcome break in the rain so I'm off outside for a while before domestic goddess duties in the kitchen call. 

Diary Update ~ September 2021.

Well my using my diary keeping attempts using this blog are proving haphazard to say the least. A couple of months have elapsed since I last wrote a post. August came and went but maybe the least said about it the better. It was a dull and depressingly not at all like summer month.

September however has by and large been a warm, sunny and quite beautiful month although the temperatures have dramatically dropped over the last week when there have also been winds and heavy rainfall. Autumn is well and truly here. We enjoyed the first week of the month on holiday by the sea in South Wales.  The weather was a mixture of sun at the start and end, overcast in the middle but most fortunately dry throughout. Sadly there were no opportunities for any garden visiting but plenty of coastal footpath walks, unsuccessful dolphin spotting and sitting out in the garden of where we were staying reading and enjoying the beautiful view of the sea as well as bat watching each evening. We usually see bats in the summer at home but not a single one this summer. There was also time for the obligatory seaside fish and chips meal sitting on a bench overlooking the bay and of course an ice cream (not at the same time!)

The two new raised beds in the garden have been largely cleared. The sweet pea and bean wigwams have been cleared and will be dismantled soon. The pattypan squash 'Sunburst' remains along with some beetroot. Calendulas have been torn out but all the herbs planted there are designed to be permanent occupants with perhaps more to be added to their numbers in the future. The potato bags have been shaken out and cleaned in readiness for next year. We didn't grow the same volume of potatoes that the allotment allowed us to but the 'Charlotte' salad potato crop was much enjoyed and the potatoes were cleaner than those grown at the plot. We are now eating the last of the tomatoes the plants having been consigned into the green bin. The majority of the tomatoes were the variety 'Romello' which is a bush plant with delicious small red plum tomatoes and it produces in quantity. 

I missed my 'Sunset' apple tree at the allotment as well as it's two companions and of course all the soft fruit I had there especially the raspberries. Still the stick of a spring planted 'Sunset' apple tree has taken and grown better than expected and our wonky apple tree has produced more fruits than ever. This might be down to having removed a large autumn flowering cherry in it's vicinity. The pear tree is covered with fruit and harvesting will be done in the immediate future before the squirrels get there. At the moment their attention is focused on scurrying about with conkers in their mouths bound for a secret hide and forget all about spot but that diversion will not last forever. 

In the flower garden there has been some pruning and tidying. The battle against the marestail in the Lockdown Border runs it's infinite course whilst plans have been drawn in my head to remove some of the perennials in there. I'm planning on planting some new additions but still have to locate them. The new roses planted round the geodesic dome were doing well until I spotted some rose sawfly larvae munching them with relish. Some spraying and squishing seems to have done the trick but they did some damage. Their presence was restricted to one side of the dome so fortunately only three plants were affected. I've never come across these beasties on other roses in the garden and certainly didn't expect pests like that in September.

A few hardy annual seeds were sown as soon as we returned from our holiday - calendulas 'Sunset Buff' and 'Snow Princess', orlaya grandiflora, daucus carota 'Purple Kisses Mix', ammi visnaga 'Green Mist' and 'Antirrhinum 'Chantilly Bronze'. Most have germinated well except for the ammi and calendula 'Snow Princess' so second sowings have been made. A couple of days later I remembered the larkspur packet that I had left in the freezer before we left and a possibly too late sowing of these was made today. A perennial scabious has also been sown and cuttings of salvia 'Nachtvlinder' have been taken. 

I've made a few plant purchases for planting up a big container at the front of the house - white flowering cyclamens, white violas, a small skimmia, Christmas box and an ivy. My bulb order was sent off and should have arrived this week but because of the shortage of hgv drivers/ fuel it is still with the carriers. I'm not in a hurry for the tulip bulbs as I will not plant them until November but would like to get my hands on the other bulbs as soon as possible.

Finally we made one garden visit as such to Abbeywood Gardens in Cheshire, a few weeks later after blogging friend Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' was there. You can see her post here. This was my first there since last August and we had a most enjoyable morning walking around finishing with lunch outside. The photos you can see on this post were all taken there apart from the seaside holiday snap. We also visited Chester Zoo last week where some of the planting there grabbed my attention away from the animals much to my niece's bewilderment. So on to a new month tomorrow and wishing you all happy gardening in October. 

Wordless Wednesday ~ 'Going To The Zoo', Chester, September, 2021

 

Garden Visiting ~ September 2021