Another mild week passes by and the last few scented leaf pelagoniums have been cut back and despatched to the greenhouse for the winter. It looks like there may be some colder weather ahead and in anticipation I have made a start on lifting dahlias that are in pots. It’s not something I usually do but a revamp is taking place. Here’s six from the garden this week.
One
Over the last year I have radically thinned out the gooseberries and blackcurrants. Last weekend I tackled the wild blackberries that loiter around the side of the shed. They’ve gone now, hopefully never to return but they can be very insistent. In celebration I bought a new blackcurrant bush. It’s a Ben Sarek. I’ve happily grown Ben Connann in the past and I inherited Ben Lomond which seem to be past their best. We’ll see if Sarek crops well next year. It had a dusting of bone meal and then a layer of leaf mould to get see on its way.
Two
The mild weather is persuading many of the summer flowers to keep on going, just a little at a time but enough to raise a happy smile. These are Knautia, Clematis, Coreopsis, Geranium, Nicotiana and Antirrhinum.
Three
The trees that surround this garden have been glowing in the sunshine. This time of year seems to me, to be the best time to appreciate their stately glory. I even enjoy collecting the leaves that fall.
Four
The hydrangeas are also looking particularly fine at the moment. The white flowers of summer have faded (and that doesn’t seem to be quite the right word) to a beautiful pink. Isn’t that a wonderful transformation?
Five
The snowberry is losing its leaves and revealing the underplanting of brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’. The silvered leaves are just perfect for the winter garden.
Six
There’s been a start made on tidying up for winter and the shed needed a sweep out. Venturing into the dark corners is not something I do willingly, but I did and found a colony of mushrooms. Clearly they are enjoying the damp dark conditions! I left them there.
I was derailed from my six last week but happily normal service has been resumed. Jobs for the weekend involve leaf collecting, tulip bulb planting and more cutting back of those herbaceous perennials that will soon go soggy over the winter. Any slugs lurking around better watch out. Thanks once again to the host of this meme – The Propagator. His blog shares all the links to other SOS posts, I have some catch up reading to do!
n20gardener 
The glow on your trees is marvelous! Beautiful Autumn view!
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Thank you 😊
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What beautiful trees! (of course they were highlighted in your photo thanks to the light)
Here, the raspberries have been cut down, but not yet my currants and blackcurrants. I have to do it.
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Hoping to cut the raspberries down next week.
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You have lovely borrowed views. And a blue sky!
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White can fade. I should know. Well, that is another story. The white hydrangeas that I relocated into an exclusively white garden now bloom lavender, but they did not fade to lavender. They just somehow started to bloom with color. Meanwhile those that I did not relocate now bloom white, and have not even faded to another color yet. It makes no sense. I know that I did not relocate the wrong specimens, but it sure seems like I did.
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I loved your white six this week. I’ve read it but not yet left a comment! The dianthus was so pure. Curious how the hydrangeas just do their own thing!
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Oh my! I can not figure out the hydrangeas. Most of what we have here are the old fashioned sort that are now known as ‘mop head’ (I believe). A few florist types were added after getting left behind after weddings, but they do not get big. Anyway, I learned a long time ago that hydrangeas are either pink or blue, . . . or white. By that, I mean that those that were either pink or blue were pink where the soil is slightly alkaline in the Santa Clara Valley, but blue where the soil is slightly acidic in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It took a bit of effort to get them to bloom blue in the Santa Clara Valley, and similar effort to get them to bloom pink in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The point was that the color was determined by pH rather than genetics, and that they were always one color or the other. However, white hydrangeas were always white. When I relocated some that bloomed white into the exclusively white garden, I expected them to continue to bloom white. Instead, they bloom a weird lavender color, sort of between blue and pink. I will relocate them this winter.
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I love the photo showing the wider view of the trees in your garden. It’s the combination of the different colours of the leaves, contrasted with the sculptural shapes from the branches. I have snowberry in my garden, but sadly no underplanting of Brunnera. It goes very well with a little ivy.
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I’m slightly amazed the brunnera survives. I’m always cutting back the snowberry as I inherited it an overgrown state but I think I am gaining control – if you can ever do that with a snowberry. I just don’t have the space the let it roam. The trees are borrowed from neighbouring gardens but the view, even today with most of the leaves gone, is stunning. As you say it is the sculptural shapes.
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Your borrowed trees remind me a bit of my garden, aren’t we lucky to live in big cities yet be surrounded by trees? I have also come to enjoy collecting the leaves, now that I make leaf mould!
And it’s great to see that there is life even in the dark confines of your shed!
The Brunnera is lovely.
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