Back at the end of October the garden was alive with drifts of cosmos, Michaelmas daisies and rudbeckia. And then the downpours began, plus some big winds. The cosmos is still hanging on, but the Michaelmas daisies are no more and rudbeckia down to the final few stems.
1) The rose trio, though, is hanging on, still doing their bit. Cornelia by the greenhouse is looking a little rain battered, but still very pretty. St. Cecilia on the terrace wall has been flowering sporadically for some weeks. But her neighbour, Penelope, has only started flowering this week, beautiful, but unexpected…
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2) There have been other surprise openings this week, including the newly planted young Hesperanthus Wilfred H. Bryant…
Other curious (unseasonal?) discoveries this week include buds and flowers on two Vanilla Ice sunflower plants which I grew from seed in the spring. They’re multi-headed plants with medium, in sunflower terms, sized flowers. Heaven knows why they’ve waited till November.
3) In the still going strong since the summer category, Salvia Amistad wins first prize. Actually, this is the best its looked since it was planted in the spring…
4) And in the front garden, a new favourite Crocosmia Harlequin, as seen this morning. Isn’t this a lovely plant…
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5) In between torrential rain and misty drizzle, garden tidying, and the usual plant shifting has begun. Our builder and son also came and removed an annoying (literally) stumbling block outside the back door. Last year we had the garden steps reconfigured, but the job wasn’t quite finished and the old bottom steps survived the exercise, were a real eye-sore and general all-round nuisance. But now transformation. They have been demolished and a brand new, semi-shade bed created. I’ve planted it up with assorted hellebores, (Christmas Carol in the right hand corner just in bud), dwarf daffodils, snowdrops under the hedge, pulmonaria Blue Ensign and Diana Clare (silvery leaves), and in the far left, a neat fern, Polystichum setiferum congestum. As the leaves go from the hedge end behind the house, it will get more light. A spring garden then.
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6) Last but not least, when it comes to providing long-lasting colour and cheerfulness, to say nothing of eventually feeding the birds, it has to be the crab apple trees: a miniature Evereste in the front garden (header photo) which we can see from the sitting room, and Jelly King at the bottom of the garden, but visible from the kitchen. Even on the gloomiest days, they do their best to glow. Today, though, we have wall to wall sunshine and Wedgewood Blue sky, so here they are looking their brightest…
Six on Saturday Please call in on our host, Jim. He still has some fabulous plants still flowering in his garden
Well, despite those heavy downpours and other ghastly conditions, your garden has happiness, Tish
I love that, Sue. A garden of happiness it is 🙂
Excellent!
What a beautiful garden in spite of the weather Tish.
Thanks, Anne. It is doing some very beautiful things in between the leaf fall and general dying back.
😍
Still looks good to me. 🥰
A lovely garden – slipping into autumn, but keeping you on your toes with a few surprises.
Keeping me on my toes certainly, Margaret. And very muddy they get too!
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Mrs. Green Fingers! There’s always something to bring joy at your place, Tish xx
🙂 🙂 Thanks, Jo.
Admiring your crab apples and a thought occurred to me, could I perhaps graft a shoot or two of crab apples onto one or other of my fruiting apples, improve the pollination and get a late autumn fruit display…..
Now that is one amazing thought, Jim. And must surely be documented if ever you attempt it!
So beautiful, Tish. 🌸
Thank you!
Oh my goodness–your Roses! I’m so jealous! We are getting our first snow tonight, so blooms are going “bye-bye.” All your examples are lovely.
Thanks, Beth. Snow, ooh that’s something I hope not to see just yet, or even at all. Frostier days ahead of course, but for now we’re having a mild spell.
A stunning collection of late summer/ autumn colours. You have a gorgeous garden, Tish.
Many thanks, Flavia.
The crab apples I would expect to look good at this time of year but you have some surprises too, like those beautiful roses (I love St. Cecilia in particular). The weather is so mild for the time of year though – we also have some unseasonal flowerings!
It is mild, but even so, there are some very surprising flowerings. A lovely stem of phlox has just opened, a spray of small white flowers with a yellow eye. I think the long drought must have disrupted some plants’ timetables. I’ve noticed early summer perennials like valerian and ranunculus making lots of big leaves which are hardly likely to last out the winter.
Gorgeous! The freeze put our garden to rest for the season.
Thanks, Michael.
My crabapple was a sorry sight when I moved in almost 10 years ago. Fungal blight and losing all leaves by July. It lost a large branch in a storm, and now can manage to support itself. I am getting normal sized fruits, and most leaves hang on until autumn. It did not flower well last year and could use some pruning. Branches are growing into the neighbors trees, not useful for anyone!
All that to say, your crabapples look great – so pretty, and you have a lot of other fun things still happening in the garden, Now it is all birds eating seeds in my garden, and no doubt spreading them everywhere.
Many thanks. I’m sorry your crab apple has been having problems.
Beautiful!
Thank you, Jennie.
You’re welcome.
Do your Crocosmias flop over? Ours do but I understand there’s a variety that doesn’t. Feels like splitting hairs. You can’t kill ours if you tried.
The big form certainly flops about and is insanely tough if you want it to leave the premises. The smaller versions, which always used to be called montbretia seem to stay pretty upright. Unless a flipping big deluge waterlogs their flower stems, which is what has just to happened to the one I photo’ed. Ah well. So it goes. I’m not sure why it’s flowering now anyway, though it’s been a bit of brightness in the front garden.