Three consecutive nights of frost have very clearly announced the arrival of winter. A last minute flurry of activity saw the cutting back of all the soggy green stuff and most of the tulip bulbs were planted out. I have twenty left which will now almost certainly go into pots. In other confessions the winter bedding has not yet gone into pots. I also had to call in the muscle men to dig out the tree stump that was hosting the honey fungus – an old holly self-seeder. I could not budge it. Here’s six from the garden this first week of December.
One
Cobwebs on the verbena. These are left standing for the goldfinches who come for the seeds.
Two
The old leaves of hellebores have been cut back and new ones are coming through.
Three
The leaf mould cage is back in action. It’s been in use for about five years now and sadly the original posts used for the corner supports are rotting but there are just enough left standing to do for another year.
Four
The last of the fig leaves have fallen and once this frosty weather moves on these will be mowed up to shred them and then added to the leaf mould pile.
Five
The long border in winter. The seed heads of veronicastrum fascination are also left standing.
Six
One final confession. I have not yet cut back the autumn fruiting raspberry canes. But there’s no hurry here, these can be done in January.
The forecast suggests a mild spell is in sight so the remaining tulip bulbs will be planted then. Other than that I am pretty well shutting down the gardening for the winter. Fellow SOSers in the southern hemisphere will be showing blue skies to keep us going through the cold. Jim, our host, will almost certainly have a wonderful camellia to show us so stop by his Garden Rumination site to find out more. Keep warm or stay cool depending on your hemisphere!