Monday 24 September 2012

LAST OF THE SUMMER?

It was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday so I thought that, as I've finished the Holiday blog, I'd get back to what I usually blog about - in this case, the garden.
The catmint is still flowering well, crammed between a cornus and a bracken which help to hold it upright.
 
Kathleen Wheeler clematis is still flowering, resting on the stalks of Jacob's Ladder for stability. I know just how it feels!
How out of season is this? Almost October and yet there are a couple of buds on the delphinium...
 Everlasting sweetpeas, which I tried to make ex-everlasting many years ago but since they're in among the stems of a New Dawn rose that's why they survive.
 A fuchsia magellenica bought for me many years ago by a now-deceased friend which has been quite late is starting this year but is now going well. The green 'stalks' on the r. hand side are the cut down remains of fennel, as far as I could reach at the time.
 This hydrangea is really a white one but is gradually turning pink. It's grown so much this year! In the spring there are daffs poking through the first new growth.
A sad specimen of foxglove, the last in the garden this year, but I hope there will be plenty of them next year.
 Leycesteria formosa with the hanging 'earrings' of flowers which turn into berries which blackbirds like to eat. William Leycester was the Chief Justice in Bengal during the early 19th century, according to my A-Z of Plant Names.
 Some water mint, also coming to its end. Literally, as I am going to dismantle the pond. Since I now have an electric fence round the edges which is 3' tall to stop the cat next door 'fishing', it also means I can't get to the water level to clear out weed, pick out dead leaves or try and scrape up as much duckweed as I can, so - it'll have to go. I'm just waiting for Stuart to get a home sorted out for the goldfish and I'll try to get them caught, bagged up and transported the half mile or so to the stables and their new home. Then I can try to get the plants out, start scooping out the water and catching what's left of the fish, probably all the black ones which are so difficult to see! I should say 'we' rather than 'I' as I shall rely on Gillian to help.
 How silly is this? Poppies in bud! These are usually out in June. Below is one already in flower though today, as it's raining, it probably won't be much good by the morning.
 A visit from my friend last night but I do wish it'd leave the grass alone. Not much point in tidying up the grass as it has been so dry the roots have no purchase in the ground. This is just outside the patio doors
 and this is my old compost heap, well scratched over. Doesn't look so bad in the photo but it makes walking a bit dangerous for me. I'll get the dustpan out and throw it all back again; it's also so dry.
But I feed the badger so can't grumble too much, the holes just make it so uneven on the grass that I'm scared of losing my balance.
 
Ho hum, Bernard!!! 

2 comments:

Kath said...

Interesting about William Leycester, I never knew that. I had one given to me 15 years ago and moved self seeded babies to each successive house. I was told it was called "Pheasant berry" and that a poacher with a few berries in his pocket, could tempt a pheasant to be captured.

Sylve said...

I've not heard the tale about the poacher - must ask my friend at the bottom of the road...