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WINTER INTEREST

.. berries



.. grasses



.. seedheads

.

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A COLOUR SPLASH IN AUTUMN

It's October, and we imagine the garden to be full of browns, yellows and oranges.

Not so!



Salvia Black 'n Blue



Aster Barbados



Dahlia Happy Wink

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NEW ADDITIONS FOR AN AUTUMN GARDEN

Isn't it a beauty, it's a Helenium Sahins Early Flowerer, it's really tall, and it's going to look lovely in my garden.

It's featured in this The Telegraph article, which also gives suggestions for plants to choose as companions too.

I may well need another trip to the wonderful Jack Dunckley's Birchfield at Henfield!

This nursery is a plant lover's dream.



I've quite a few Heucheras around the garden, but this is my first Heucherella, called Golden Zebra.

What a great plant name!



Miscanthus sinensis Morning Light, a name just perfect for this beautiful grass.

I love grasses.

I really hope there's no rain tomorrow, so I can get my new additions settled in.

o

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IN THE GREEN

The month of April sees my garden looking at its best.

Well that's my opinion.

I really wouldn't mind if any of these perennials and grasses ever flowered.

I love them just for their foliage.

Fresh new growth carpets the borders.

My aim is for every inch of soil to be covered.

One day?

Once the flowers appear on these perennials they will be loved by bees, of the honey, solitary and bumble kind!

With much to do at this time of year, I've been busy over past weekends and on days off.

Jobs done:

Divided one large clump of Rudbeckia into six, and Ophiopogon, making eight plants out of one.

Potted up self-sown Verbena B and Euphorbia making a dozen or more new plants, to either give away or add to the border in Autumn.

Potted up three Bronze Carex plants, bought for 30p each from a local church table-top sale.

Re-potted plants from last year, yet to find a new home.

Sown Cerinthe.

Cleaned out pots in readiness for arrival of five varieties of dark-leaf Dahlia mail order.

Pulled up 1970's concrete slabs, making more space for planting.

Picked first Rhubarb of the year, to make home-made crumble.

Pricked out hundreds and thousands of weeds, and pulled off tens of Dandelion heads!

Much time has been spent planning for the Summer ahead too.

I have quite a few spare pots (smile).

To buy:

Varieties of Mint, and Lavender plants ...

and maybe anything else that pulls at my purse strings!

o

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LOOKING IN FROM THE OUTSIDE

I'd rather be out than in.

Being outside is where my heart and soul really belong.

Guessing my love of the outdoors stems from my childhood, and from my Dad who chose an outdoor occupation, as a farmer.

My Dad liked to work alone, just as I like to be alone in my garden.

This is a place where I feel calm and relaxed. To just be me. A place where I can fully escape from the mundane in life. A place I love to be.

Even a heart-shape has formed all by itself in the shrubbery, to remind me of this.



I have missed being outside.

It's not like me to be absent from the garden, or my blog for so long.

Truth is, over the past seven weeks I've been fighting a bout of Laryngitis, and all the symptoms that go with it, and what with everyday life getting in the way too, there'd be zero energy left for the garden, or this blog.

I've felt happy to be back in the garden this past week.

The winter bees are back out too, happy to be buzzing around scented winter clematis.



Bronze carex
o
A garden at this time of year, brings with it hope.
o
With the prospect of warmth, bulbs will burst into growth, plants will flower, and birds will nest.
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Spring brings with it, new beginnings.

o

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SUNLIGHT AND SHADOWS

It's been a sunshiny and shadowy kind of morning in my garden.

I can only think of one benefit of inheriting 1970's style concrete slabs, and that is the great shadows that cast upon them in sunlight.

Achillea seadhead above.



After upturning and brushing out the wooden planters in readiness for the new season ahead, this poor Housespider's life has now literally been turned upside-down.

I do hope it doesn't try to seek refuge indoors!



A white feather blows gently along in the breeze, but manages to sit still just for a second, long enough for me to take a snap.



A shadow of Ornamental Sedge in high contrast.

o