Lancashire Day

Last Sunday was 'LancashireDay' and  for all those of us who live or used to live in Lancashire it was an opportunity to celebrate the special customs of our county or to just feel proud to be a Lancastrian. There were lots of events around the county.  We decided to go to a Christmas Food and Craft Fair at Salmesbury Hall. It was not so much to celebrate Lancashire Day but just to have a couple of hours out at an interesting venue with a Christmassy feel to it. Salmesbury hall is an historic black and white building which also has antiques on sale. So as well as viewing the craft fair there would be an opportunity to see the Hall and all it had to offer.

We arrived at the entrance to the hall where a clog dancer was dancing to music.   Once inside the hall there were a good number of crafts stalls to look at and many of them provided plenty of ideas for Christmas presents. The stalls were spread out over about three rooms downstairs. There were also food stalls with samples to try, such as cheese, jams, chutneys, cakes, chocolates.

As we browsed the crafts stalls we couldn't help but be aware of the loud  noise which sounded like someone banging on the floor above. We investigated this and went up the lovely big staircase which took us into a big wooden floored room. The room was set out as an entertainment area with people sitting or standing around the edges of the room listening to a band playing Lancashire songs. That explained the deafening noise downstairs.

Back downstairs the cafe was doing good trade, I wondered if  it was serving black puddings, pie and peas or Lancashire hot pot,  but we weren't eating so we went to look at the antiques. As we explored, I came across a narrow entrance with a couple of fur coats hanging up and a sign inviting us to go through the wardrobe.

I was intrigued because I caught a glimpse of a sparkly, silvery, white area on the other side. As we stepped through the 'wardrobe' I realised it was a Narnia scene.  It was beautiful, I felt I had been transported to another world. It was only a narrow corridor, but I managed to take a quick photo before other visitors appeared and burst my bubble!

November in the garden

The garden takes a back seat during November and December with all the preparations for Christmas, fortunately there is not usually too much work to be done out there at this time of year. But if we get fine days when the sun shines, even though it might be cold, I often have a longing to get out and do some work. 

The main job at the moment is sweeping up the leaves, of which there are loads. We have a big leaf composting bin which my husband made and it produces lots of lovely leaf mould each year.  I've also planted up some containers with evergreens and cyclamens for outside the front and back doors.
  

This is one I made up last year which is still looking good.

The gaillardia are still  flowering happily.

I've done a bit of tidying and cutting back in the borders, although I leave most of the cutting back for the Spring.  The grasses take over when the flowers die back, although this one is not an evergreen so it too will die back eventually.

The holly tree is still full of berries, so last weekend we cut some branches and have stored them in the shed where it's cool ready for our Christmas decorations in a week or two. There are still plenty of berries left for the birds. They also enjoy the windfall apples which we have left lying around as well as the food which we put out for them. We also have squirrels running around and a few weeks ago there was a hedgehog. We're hoping it's found a place to hibernate. It shouldn't have too much trouble finding anywhere, there are plenty of places which we don't clear of leaves.

The Lodge Nature Reserve, Sandy

Last weekend we visited our daughter and family who live in Bedfordshire. On the Saturday they took us to  the The Lodge Nature Reserve at Sandy which is run by the RSPB. It is not far from where they live and although they have been there before it was a first visit for us. There was a Christmas Fayre on too so plenty for us to look at.

It was a lovely mild November day and the sunshine enhanced the autumn colour of the trees.  I was aware of lots of space and trees as we drove through to the car park.  There seemed to be plenty of walks on offer and we took the track which led to the Christmas Fayre and the RSPB shop. We didn't see any birds, but then with two lively grandchildren maybe the birds were keeping out of our way. The children enjoyed doing the Christmas trail as we walked along which entailed spotting  pictures placed among the trees. They also enjoyed spotting toadstools.

Father Christmas was in his grotto at the Fayre, so we had to go to see him of course. There was a Salvation Army band playing carols which all added to the Christmas theme.

After we had looked around the Fayre we walked to the Lodge.  On the way we found a huge tree which was great for climbing. We also found a wasp's nest in the ground, fortunately it was sectioned off with a warning to keep away, but we could see the wasps flying around the hole.

The Lodge has lovely gardens which are organic and worked to provide homes and food for wildlife

I'm sure it's a lovely place to visit in the spring and summer when the borders are in flower, but there was still plenty of colour around.

The grandchildren were very interested in the Japanese orange tree.  It had quite small fruit which had a soft downy feel to it and a delicate smell which we thought was a bit like peaches. The label said it had a very bitter flavour.

We enjoyed our visit to The Lodge and we left feeling there was much more to see.  We'll probably go back at another time of year when we can see different things.

Planting wishes

Some time ago I published a blog post on my wish list for garden plants. Since then I am now the proud owner of  two of those plants. Both of them have been acquired in different ways from my daughter Sarah. One is a cutting from a honeysuckle which I bought her earlier this year. We had spotted the honeysuckle at her  local garden centre, it had large pale yellow flowers and smelt divine. A bit broke off when she was planting it, she potted it up and it rooted. I have planted it under the apple tree where it can climb, I hope it likes living there.

The other plant is a Hamamelis (witch hazel).  http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=901  I have wanted one of these for some time for the winter colour. Whenever I've seen them in gardening magazines or  TV garden programmes I've thought I'd like one in my garden.  Every time I see them in the garden centre in the winter they seem to be shouting, 'Look at me! Please buy me!' But I always look at the price tag and think, 'No!'

For my birthday Sarah sent me gardening vouchers, so I decided to use them to buy a Hamamelis. I was a bit nervous buying a plant which cost so much money. I felt a responsibility to get it right. Well I've taken advice from the man at the garden centre and hopefully I have done all the right things. At the moment it is just bare, twiggy branches, but I can't wait to see those spidery yellow flowers appear in January.

 

Brightening up a dull day

Much as I love Autumn there are times when it gets you down a bit. There are days which just glow with sunshine and leaf colour. Days which make you just want to wrap up warm and go off for a walk or out into the garden to sweep up leaves or do whatever needs doing out there. Then there are the dark, damp, dreary days which can make you feel miserable and depressed.  That's what today was like.

I called in at the garden centre on my way back from a shopping trip in town, to get some bird seed. And there by the front entrance was a table full of outdoor cyclamen plants, in all colours, pink, white, purple and red.  I couldn't resist buying 3 red ones, I had an empty trough at home waiting to be planted up with something. I also bought 2 variegated erisymums which contrasted well with the red of the cyclamen flowers.

They look really colourful and I've put them by the front door.  I hope they will cheer other people up who come to my house, especially on dark, dreary days.

Harlow Carr again.....the grown ups view

Although our visit to Harlow Carr Gardens last week was mainly taken up with childrens' activities, I did manage to take some photos of the gardens in their autumn glory. 

There was some stunning colour in the trees. This one in particular was quite breathtaking.

The herbaceous borders at Harlow Carr are massive and in the summer months are a riot of colour.  I was interested to see how they were looking now that the summer flowering plants had gone over. I have to say that they were still amazing but in a different way.  The grasses had taken over from the flowers to provide interest.

I liked these which reminded me of sheaves of corn.

These look lighter and more swishy and graceful with a pinky purple haze.

The dead summer flowers were still there, now with their seed heads providing the colour and interest. In my garden at home I'm trying to leave plants with interesting seed heads through the  winter, but huge clumps of them creates a much better effect than I could ever achieve.

And finally I had to look at the kitchen garden.  Who could not be impressed by this purple kale?

Thanks for reading my blog feel free to comment.

Another sort of beauty

 

Gardening in October and November is always for me a clearing up exercise. Tidying up the borders of the debris of dead plants, weeding and cutting back. But in the last few years I've not done as much cutting back as I used to. At one time I used to blitz the garden in October, cut all the perennials to ground level and 'put the garden to bed' for the winter.  Now I leave some plants to die down in their own time and in doing that I have discovered some wonderful late autumn colours and lots of plants with interesting seed heads. I leave these seed heads for winter display. They can look wonderful when they are touched with a layer of frost or snow.

Seed heads also provide homes for hibernating insects which then provide food for the birds during the winter. I remember a couple of years ago when I found clusters of hibernating ladybirds in the deadheads of  stachys and achillea plants. I couldn't bear to cut those back. Last year I spotted insects in the hollow stems of the lupin plants. Too late, I'd cut them down, so I placed them on the flower bed for the birds to rummage through. Some plants just go to a soggy mess in the autumn, like Hostas.  I leave them until the foliage turns to a lovely yellow colour.  Soon after this they flop and go messy, this  is when I clear them away.

So my clearing up is done gradually throughout the winter. And  the winter garden, instead of looking flat and colourless now has a different sort of beauty.

 What do you do with your garden at this time of year, cut back or leave?