We’ve had frost. Yippee! Some more please, dear weather gods. We gardeners need to have this year’s slug population explosion well and truly blasted, or nipped in the bud, or whatever you need to do to stop the critters chomping and reproducing. And yes, I know they are useful in the compost heap, and I’m sure other slugs love them, but enough is enough. They are roosting everywhere, including in the polytunnel. No vegetable is safe.
Of course more frost will mean an end to the late flowering flowers – the campanula and geranium Rozanne still on the go, the hesperanthus (above) which simply refused to give in to the frost; the Russian rudbeckia that, astonishingly, is currently contemplating the making of fresh, fat russet buds. (It must have been bred in deepest Siberia). The annual pot marigolds are still busy too.
But heavens to Murgatroyd, much as we like to keep seeing them, surely it is time all good plants were asleep in their beds, gathering themselves for next summer’s flowering. In the meantime, though, here are scenes of the garden’s last hurrah – taken today and over the last week.
The Changing Seasons Please visit Max to see his wonderfully atmospheric shots of night-time Oslo.
Tish Farrell 
so pretty
Thanks, Beth.
Some of these are new to me .Late season beauty.I have read to leave some of the remains and not clean up to soon because the frost and maybe even snow can be so pretty clinging to them.
Yes, you’re right. Dried stems can look really good with a good frost on them.
No frost here, but I’m sure it has taken care of whatever is left in my Maine garden.
Oh indeed. I have heard about Maine frost 🙂
So colourful! And yes, let’s hope those pesky slugs take a break from breeding, though in my case there’s not a lot of frost to kill them off 😦
Only leaves nematodes then for next year. Expensive I know, but sometimes one thinks it might be worth it. Better still though, we need more toads and hedgehogs.
I wish I could find some toads and hedgehogs, they’d be very happy here 🙂 And yes, I have considered using nematodes, alternatively simply growing plants that can survive. Which probably means my lovely hosta has to go.
For one plant you might be able to muster enough anti-slug material to surround it – copper impregnated mat perhaps. Mother in law always used sharp grit as a mulch. Egg shells. Wool. Magic spell!
Magic spell please. I have tried all the rest – my slugs and snails don’t seem to mind the grit or egg-shells.
Razor blades come to mind, or is that too ghoulish!
I could export some blue tongue lizards to you!!! Though I don’t think they would like your climate…
I feel them shivering from here 🙂
❄️❄️❄️😟
What a beautiful garden you have! Enjoy the late autumn days before winter sets in. 🙂
Thank you, Cocoa. I loved your snow-frosted pines. Nothing like their scent.
Our flowers croaked months ago. There’s nothing out there but oddly, a few hedge roses. Everything else is deader than dead. I wonder what, if anything, will come back next year.
Fingers crossed they will.
enjoyed the recent pics and I really need to share a few images from my garden today.
My first time out in a month and I was the neglectful gardener this year for sure. So much so that I left peppers and tomatoes to dry rot on the vine. oh my! long story short – I was not going to garden this year at all but I slowly added things and well – it was not my best year….
anyhow, today – I grabbed some fresh oregano and spearmint to rub between my fingers and began thinking of next year’s goals.
and back to your fun Seasons post…
loved this phrase:
heavens to Murgatroyd – haha!
and the slideshow was so nice –
Lovely to have you here, Yvette. Even the best gardening plans can quickly fall apart I find. Time gallops on, and it’s too easy to forget what should be done when. On the other hand, with the change in the seasons, maybe we need to relearn this anyway.
yes – maybe so….
(and thx for that)
What a bounty of brightness! I’ve never been much of a gardener, and so admire those who are. You know so much! And then you have this wonderful year-round reward of beauty.
Alison
Thank you, Alison. All this late flowering is quite a recent phenomenon. Once everyone used to put their gardens here to bed in October, and it would be all bare ground until the spring bulbs. We’ll need to learn some new stuff planting-wise methinks.
Astonishing the amount of colour you still have, Tish! And the mention of Murgatroyd raised a huge grin. 🙂 🙂
A beautiful and poetic changing season post.
Thank you for sharing, Tish!
Thanks for popping by, Amy.
Gorgeous.
janet
Indeed, an encore performance before the hibernation. Beautiful series of photos, Tish.
Many thanks, Draco.
Tish, your flowers are warriors. What a beautiful assembly.
Warrior flowers, I like that Lucile. Thank you.
My pleasure, Tish.
I’m back after an enforced absence due to an internet outage of almost a week and rushed over to stroll around your garden with you Tish. Beautiful photos and slide show. Slugs and snails are not a problem for me as I have very active blue tongue lizards, 2 of them. with a great appetite for all things slimy…
Computers/internet – what headaches they give us. And we expect them always to work! Nice to have you back and visiting the garden. My wishes have been granted, This morning we have frost.
Brrrrrr, I think I would hibernate till spring if I lived over there now
I agree, it is wonderful to see a real frost….about time – Thank you Tish for the lovely pics. Janet. 🙂
Love that opening shot. And I love frosty mornings, actually; makes me feel glad I’m still here! 🙂
Yes we have one this morning and it gives one a real zing – inside and out 🙂
I’ve noticed the profusion of slugs this year. A good freeze is essential for keeping so much under control – slugs, mold, viruses, ticks, etc…
Oh yes, indeed. All those things need reining in 🙂
Slugs are annoying: eating everything. Fuck off slugs.
Am hoping our heavy snow is doing them in.