Witchy Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - Winter Gold

A Week Of Flowers 2021 - Day 7

 My final flower for 'A Week Of Flowers' was going to be a snowdrop that is in flower today but the second named storm in as many weeks has decreed that it isn't a day to venture out to take a photo.  Instead another look back earlier to this summer when the above combination gave me much pleasure. The rose is 'Luisa's Daughter', a rose gifted to me from my sister and named by her in memory of Mum. It was my birthday about a month after Mum's death when this most lovingly chosen present arrived in the post as a bare root rose. Her first flowers appear in May and the last one of the year shed it's petals in late November this year.

In close proximity the beautiful thalictrum delavayi 'Splendide White' which is a hardy perennial. It grows quite tall and benefits from some support, flowers throughout summer and has attractive aquilegia like foliage too. It's only minus is the fact that it is so late to come through in the year so much so that I start to panic each year about it's welfare.

A huge bunch of virtual flowers must go to Cathy over at 'Words And Herbs' who has given us the chance to celebrate flowery memories as we head towards the shortest day of the year. Another season will be turning soon which is a most uplifting thought and I see that the good news that Cathy is planning a reunion next year. 

A Week Of Flowers 2021 - Day 6

 

A full frothy flowery border of mainly purples and oranges snapped on a visit to Powis Castle, in north Wales on a visit there back in late August this year. Many thanks to Cathy over at Words and Herbs for hosting 'A Week In Flowers' for a second consecutive year. I hope very much that it becomes an annual event.

A Week Of Flowers 2021 - Day 5

Some sweet peas from late July for today's 'A Week Of Flowers' hosted by Cathy who blogs over at Words and Herbs.  These are the one annual that I enjoy growing the most from seed and would not be without. Do visit and see what other fabulous flowers fellow bloggers are enjoying this Sunday.

A Week Of Flowers 2021 - Days 3 & 4

 

A touch of spring bling for 'A Week Of Flowers' going back to this May with a trio of aquilegias and some bluebells. The first aquilegia is 'Nora Barlow' whilst the other two are nameless seedlings that have appeared in the garden by magic. The bluebells were photographed by himself in one of the woods close to our caravan in Cumbria. With many thanks to Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' for the perfect excuse to indulge in some photographic floral memories on yet another extremely wet and windy December afternoon. The perfect tonic!

A Week Of Flowers 2021 - Day 2

Going back to this May today for 'A Week In Flowers'. This time I ventured out of my garden and just down the road to Norton Priory Museum And Gardens. It is a historic site, comprising the remains of an abbey complex dating from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries as well as an eighteenth century country house. It is the most excavated monastic site in Europe and today houses a museum as well as being home to the garden where these daffodils delighted the eyes. Like several places more or less on our doorstep we are guilty of not visiting often so we hope to remedy that next year. Thanks to Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' who came up with the lovely idea of sharing flowers on our blogs every day for a week to brighten up the month.

A Week Of Flowers 2021, Day 1

In desperate need of some sunshine and a reminder of warmer days today on what has been day of mainly gusty wind and intermittent heavy rain, here is a pot of tulip 'Ballerina' taken this spring. A much better photo of the pot I'm afraid rather than the tulips but they provided a rather lovely glow of colour and the addition of scent too. As you can see an interloper crept in - I'm not sure how. I'm must confess removing it not long afterwards. Not the biggest fan of tulips I was most pleased with this effort which waved at me when I was at the kitchen sink. Thanks to Cathy over at 'Words and Herbs' ,whose lovely idea it is to celebrate a week of flowers to brighten up these sometimes dark and dismal days of December. Do visit Cathy's blog and see what what flowers she is sharing today and also check out the blogs of other participants. 

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.