Through the Garden Gate--November 2024

We've had some bad weather this month and the garden has taken a bit of a battering. It was still looking very autumnal early on with the grasses showing off their lovely colours. 

I even managed to cut a few flowers for the house.

But then things changed and the weather turned colder bringing frosty mornings. Then the snow arrived which kept us indoors for a few days.

So gardening work has slowed down now. I occasionally cut a few plants back if they go mushy, but most of the tidying up can be left for a while. I planted tulip bulbs in pots and smaller bulbs in small pots for the garden table. 

Now I am getting ready for Christmas. This week I cut foliage for Christmas wreath making. The allotment is a good place for foliage. Conifer and berried ivy are plentiful. My daughter has a rosemary bush in her garden and was happy for me to cut from it. I have a pot of it by the kitchen door but  I have never been able to get it to grow very big, probably because I cut it a lot for cooking with. I will be making the wreaths next week. 

Next week we will also be going to the garden centre to buy our Christmas tree. We go early in December to buy it so we get the best choice, but don't bring it in the house until later.

Today I will be at church decorating a Christmas tree for our Christmas tree display. An event we started last Christmas and are repeating this year. It's a busy time of year and starting to get very Christmassy. 

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

'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--November 2023

November seems to have flown by so much that I nearly forgot about my end of month blog. We've had a lot of rain and not many good days to get out and do any gardening. As it was so wet and I couldn't get out I took a photo of the garden viewed from the house. It is still colourful so I haven't done any cutting back, even the seed heads look good. 

Early in the month I managed to get some tidying done, paths swept and cleared of moss and weeds. I bought tulip bulbs and planted them in pots. I went for orange and purple colours this time, I'm hoping they go well together. This week I started cutting foliage in preparation for making Christmas wreaths. I'll be making two, one for the front of the house and the other for the side door, any foliage left will be used in the house in vases. 

This week we visited RHS Harlow Carr. It was a beautiful day but very cold. It takes us just over an hour to get there and because of the shorter days now we didn't have a lot of time to walk around and fit lunch in as well. But it was still a lovely change to get out in the sunshine. The colours are still good especially the stems of the dogwoods which look great next to the white bark of the birch trees. 

They were getting the garden ready for Christmas, can you see the big baubles in the tree below?

We like to walk along the streamside, there is a lot of  improvement work being done which we hope will be finished next time we go.

I liked the pink seed heads on these grasses.

I managed to spend some of my birthday gardening vouchers in the shop before we left. I bought three white hellebores which are flowering now and I will plant them in pots for Christmas displays. 

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

Through the Garden Gate--November 2022

The garden is still looking autumnal, with the grasses putting on a show now. The only flower still going is the Salvia Amistad, looking very untidy in the raised bed. The crab apple has an amazing amount of fruit and the colour is lovely. There is a blackbird which has discovered it and we often watch him balancing on the branches pecking at the fruit. It will take it some time to get through it all, I think. I am eyeing it up myself to use for Christmas decorations.

The hydrangea in the front garden has started to take over and spread its branches over the path near the front door, making it seem quite gloomy. It was also making access difficult for the postman.  As it's an area in shade most of the time I decided it needed to be brightened up and made more welcoming. I have been reluctant to cut the shrub back too much in case it stopped flowering, but I decided something had to be done. I cut the branches on the side near to the door to clear the path, then I made up some winter pots to put on the step outside the door. Cyclamens, ferns and heuchera, which I hope will grow ok in the shade. I love the different shades of pink which you can get with the cyclamens. I put some pots of them outside the side door too.

We went to RHS Harlow Carr early in November. We always like to do an autumn visit, the colours are beautiful at this time of year.

Even the seed heads give colour and interest.

These were by the streamside, I'm not sure what they are, maybe Gunnera seed heads.

I have been gathering evergreen foliage as I will be making my Christmas wreaths soon. I love doing them, but the preparation takes longer than the making of them.

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

Through the Garden gate-November

Gardening work starts to slow down in November, not just because there's no work to do --there is always work to do in the garden, but because the weather and preparations for Christmas usually slow me down.

I've pottered about a bit cutting some messy plants back. I tidied up the stumpery/woodland garden and bought some bark chippings to spread over this area. I never seem to have enough chippings no matter how much I put down, I always feel I need a couple more bags.  It looks better now though.

The rest of the garden looks ok. There are plenty of grasses which give some colour and there are still some yellow berries on the Rowan. In the winter light they sometimes look like little yellow fairy lights.

In the front garden there's a little area under the adjoining neighbours wall between the lilac and the weigela which is quite damp and shady and which I've been wanting to do something with, but not sure what. Richard dug out some of the turf in the summer as it was in such a mess. Since then the weeds grew and it began to look really messy.  When we had the painters in to do the front wall of the house we moved some pots of hostas from around the front door out of their way and put them under the wall. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much they brightened up this little area. So in my autumn  tidying up  session, I weeded here, put some bark chippings down and put the hosta pots back. They don't look much at the moment but I'm hoping that when they start to grow again next year they will really brighten up this dark, dreary area.

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

Through the garden gate--November

November has been quite a month for changing weather. There has been snow, heavy rain, gales, frosty mornings and sunshine too. 

The garden is slowing down now and taking on a different look. There is still plenty of colour about but not from the flowers, they are gone over now. I love the colours as everything starts to fade and turn to yellow and brown, the straw coloured plant stems and blackened flower heads. On the sunny days  there is a lovely golden, mellow look to the garden.

Some might think the garden looks untidy, but I love it like it is. It all takes on another sort of beauty especially on those frosty mornings we have been having in the last week.

The leaves are falling everywhere--over the borders, blowing across the lawn, covering the paths and drive, behind the shed and tucked in amongst plant pots. They have all fallen now from the lime tree which hangs over the drive. The oak tree is still clinging on to its golden leaves and probably will do until after Christmas. 

As the garden slows down, then so can I. It's a time to have a rest from back breaking gardening and take things easy.  I enjoy going outside on sunny days to sweep up leaves or tidy up a bit in the borders, but there's no rush, there's all the winter months to get the borders cleared. 

  
The wildlife will benefit from the messiness. As I wander around the garden I often wonder what creatures are hiding underneath  the piles of leaves left to rot in a corner or the seedheads and broken hollow stems in the borders. I know there are some forms of wildlife about as Holly the cat regularly leaves them for me outside the back door!

As usual I have joined with Sarah at Down by the Sea for her monthly Through the Garden Gate slot

Enjoying November

I love autumn. I love the colours, the misty mornings, the smell of woodsmoke. I love collecting berries for flower arrangements or rose hips to dry for Christmas decorations. I love lots of things about autumn. September still has hints of summer, October starts to get more cosy and the colours start to change, the mornings are cooler, mists hover over the fields, cobwebs cling to hedges and gateposts, then we move in to November.  November is frosty and we start to think of winter. But it is a month to be enjoyed. The colours are still wonderful and frosty mornings reveal another kind of beauty to the garden.

As I walk the grandchildren to school in the mornings I like to point out to them the 'autumn things' around, like the colours of the trees.  We collect leaves to press and use to make pictures. So I was a bit saddened this week to see one of the houses near by to have a Santa and sleigh in coloured lights fixed to their house wall and a snowman flag flying on the flag post.  I can't deny that Christmas isn't far away and I don't mind going shopping and seeing Christmas things on display.  I like to prepare for Christmas in November, like baking the cake, making mincemeat and other lovely things.  But I think to decorate your house for Christmas in early November is a bit over the top.

So I will for now enjoy the colours 

 

the misty mornings

the cobwebs

berries

I will make things for Christmas

But I will  enjoy the cosiness of autumn, and I will leave the decorations until well into December.