#autumn

Six on Saturday: Shamed into action

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

I have been shamed by my fellow sixers!  The shorter days and colder temperatures have me reaching for the blanket, the gardening books and a cuppa.  I was even considering not posting a six!  But reading Mr P’s links to today’s sixes have encouraged me to get out in the garden.  I have not sown my sweet peas seeds, planted any bulbs and only just in time did I fleece my tender agapanthus plants.  But then none of us are perfect are we?  The very least I could do was to share six from my garden this week:

One

img_3032.jpgI garden in London and so get a little complacent about frosts.  But this week the lawn has had a light frosting and it was clearly a sign that cold weather gardening had to start.  Last year’s fleece was in shredded tatters in the shed and I hate all those white flaky bits.  I hot footed it to Homebase and found some delightful green bags of 35gsm fleece with very handy draw string pulls.  I usually fleece up the agapanthus armed with a stapler but these jackets were easy to pull over the plants and the fetching shade of green is slightly less obvious than white.  Job done.

Two

IMG_3034I was certainly lulled into complacency by the balmy days I experienced in Suffolk last week but the cold evenings are changing the colours of the garden.  The persimmon tree is looking beautiful even as the leaves are falling.

Three

IMG_3033The previously sun scorched hydrangeas are also taking on their winter hue.

 

Four

IMG_3031But elsewhere the summer container plants are still in good health and I will leave them out throughout the winter.  In mild years I have been able to carry the geraniums over into the next summer.

Five

IMG_3036The white antirrhinum sowed from seed is still in flower at this end of the garden but elsewhere I have collected seeds from another plant that has done its bit for summer.

Six 

img_3035.jpgI recently planted out some gaura and pennisetums  in a west border and alongside them I put in some Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’, which still thinks there’s time to put on a display.  Thank you!

Thank you too, to everyone who shares their gardens on a Saturday.  You provide inspiration, support and encouragement and always make me laugh!  What more can you ask for?  Well, if anyone’s free to plant a few hundred bulbs….

 

 

Six On Saturday: Trees

/ n20gardener / 20 Comments

Trees are on my mind at the moment.  The death of a fruit tree in the garden is providing the opportunity to plant something new.   Also I visited the Beth Chatto garden last week en route to Suffolk and made a point of following their tree trail.  So here are five trees that will be unsuitable for my garden but which looked so good in the autumn sun that I am going to share them.  All the notes come from the tree trail guide. The sixth is from my garden.

One

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Eucalyptus dalrympleana or the Mountain gum.  A quick growing evergreen. The white bark, its winter colouring, was glowing in the sunshine.

Two

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Koeltreuteria paniculata or Golden rain tree, Pride of India. The name golden rain refers to the thousands of small yellow flowers that hang above the foliage in July and August, as though about to pour down like rain of the tree.  A sight that surely justifies a visit to the garden in summer.  This tree in its golden autumn colours was beautiful.

Three

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Araucaria araucana or Monkey puzzle, Chilean pine.  Native to Chile and Argentina and much beloved in British suburban gardens.  Which is surprising since they grow so big.  But our suburban street conforms and there is a good specimen not too far from me.   I have memories of these as a child, fascinated by its common name, it was one of the few trees I could easily identify.

Four

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Malus hupehensis, Chinese crab apple.  Laden with beautiful red cherry like fruits in autumn and with white apple like blossom in May.  The crab apple tree is often put forward as ideal for the small garden but at a size of 5m x 4m it seems too big for the space I want to fill.

Five

Taxodium distichum Swamp cyprus.  In case you can’t read the label: from the mangrove swamps of the Everglades, Florida.  The knobbly knees on the left are the above ground growth of the trees roots.  I love this view of the garden.

Six

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After those magnificent specimens here is my dead tree.  I didn’t get to see any fruit but I think it was an Apricot tree.  The tree was in poor condition when we arrived and the small amount of blossom produced this spring was swiftly devoured by pigeons.  It finally succumbed to bacterial canker over the summer.  I wonder if I am being over ambitious in wanted to replace it with a small tree.  I have a rowan or a hawthorn on my wish list but the location in a narrow border by the path may not be ideal.  I’ll be cutting it down next week and will see what the view looks like without it.

I hope the beautiful colours of autumn are shining through in your gardens – of if you are in the southern hemisphere that spring delights are on their way.  For a good look at both seasons stop by The Propagator’s blog where links to other sixes are added throughout the day.