Through the garden gate--October

We were on holiday in Cornwall  for the first two weeks of October, so not much was done in the garden during October. We had some lovely fine autumnal weather whilst we were in Cornwall, but the day we left was the day the storms arrived. The sea was rough, the waves were lashing against the rocks and the day was grey.

Back home the garden was full of leaves and looked overgrown, but on closer inspection it wasn't as bad as I thought, a few plants had gone over and there weren't as many leaves on the trees, but many plants now have their lovely autumn colours.

Despite the stormy weather the sunflowers are still standing, they are quite tough and difficult to get out of the ground now. I'm quite surprised that some flowers just keep on growing. There's a passion flower growing up an obelisk which keeps producing the odd flower. There are spots of yellow in the borders from the rudbekia and a white valerian which has been flowering all summer looks very happy and shows no sign of giving up.

We have been very busy since we got back from holiday and I haven't done any weeding or tidying up, but soon I will find some time to get out and do some work.

 One job I have been doing is planting spring bulbs in pots--mainly crocus and narcissus for the garden tables and hyacinths for indoor display. The hyacinths are now tucked up under the bench in the shed for a few weeks until I can bring them into the house.

I have also been emptying pots of summer bedding plants and planting them up with autumn displays of cyclamen, violas and grasses.

We visited quite a few gardens whilst we were down in Cornwall, one of them being the Lost Gardens of Heligan. They had an absolutely magnificent harvest display in the shop area.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly  'Through the Garden Gate' post.