Through the Garden Gate--October 2024

Throughout October we have so much enjoyed seeing the changes in the garden. We have seen the leaves change colour on the trees, not just in our garden but in neighbouring gardens. The rowan is a particularly good tree for autumn colour. The leaves go red and the berries are yellow. The birds have had a great time eating the berries. The garden is dying down but there is still interest amongst the borders.

Walking round I can see more than I can looking out the windows. The hardy fuchsia is very colourful it seems to be a bit later flowering this year, its red and purple  flowers brightening up a dark spot in the front garden.

The Liquidamber tree is the star of the back garden,  its leaves turning a beautiful dark red and orange.

The grasses provide some bright spots and structural interest. I should have been out with my camera more as some grasses and plants took on lovely bronze tints before they turned straw coloured. I missed taking the photos, but to name a few, there was a lovely Miscanthus grass which looked amazing with the morning sun on it, Rodgersia and Hostas too. Still hanging on with a few flowers are hardy geraniums, roses, Japanese anemones,white lysimachia.

It was my birthday last weekend and my daughter and I went to RHS Harlow Carr. It's only a few weeks since I last went and how it has changed since then with the most breathtaking colours. We had a walk through the arboretum, we love a woodland walk especially in the autumn. There were interesting seed pods, plenty of fungi and of course carpets of golden leaves. We went in the bird hide and were lucky enough to see a woodpecker on one of the feeders.

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--October 2023

October is one of my favourite months, not just because it's my birthday month but I just love Autumn and the changes to the garden and countryside. Last weekend we went to visit our daughter who lives in Bedfordshire. It was my birthday weekend and we hadn't seen them for ages. I got garden vouchers from them, so I can look forward to a day out soon to somewhere garden related to spend them, probably RHS Harlow Carr. We had a shopping trip to Hitchin where more things were bought and we had a lovely lunch. 

Back home on Sunday I was struck by how the garden seemed to have changed in just a few days. Autumn had definitely arrived.  Leaves had fallen and there seemed to be much more autumn colour. Where we live there are grass verges outside the houses with trees, mostly flowering cherry type which go a lovely colour at this time of year.

In the garden the grasses are now taking over from flowers. This one is Hakonechloa. It's not a tall grass, so it's good for the front of the border, under trees or by a path. It forms a clump and has lovely arching leaves. It changes colour from yellow to a lovely russet colour in the autumn and then through the winter it goes more straw like. 

This one is a Miscanthus but I've lost the label so I don't know its full name. It's beautiful at this time of year. It grows lovely dark pink flower heads which later go fluffy as they open up. I picked some recently to go in a flower arrangement and they lasted well without dropping bits.

The Fatsia  produces really unusual flowers at this time of year.

I let the hostas show their autumn colours before I cut them back for the winter.

The Liquidamber tree starts to change colour in late summer.  It gives us plenty of interest as the leaves change and they are always late to fall.

Early on in October I potted up loads of Hyacinth bulbs for forcing. Hopefully some will be ready by Christmas. Our local garden centre has been full of cyclamens in beautiful shades of pink. I can never resist buying some for autumn container arrangements.

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

'Through the Garden Gate' post

Through the Garden Gate--September 2023

September is a month of changes as schoolchildren go back after a long summer holiday. In our family the grandchildren are growing up and becoming more independent. The eldest grandchild started her second year at Leeds university, another began his first year at Lincoln. Then one is doing A levels this time and the youngest doing her GCSEs. There are changes going on in the garden too as Autumn has now arrived. It's a season that I love and I have been watching the changes to the garden daily. At the beginning of the month summer returned briefly with a really hot spell of weather, but since then there has been some very rainy, windy weather. Leaves are blowing about on the lawn keeping Holly the cat amused and giving her plenty to play with.

The Michaelmas daisies started flowering, giving a lovely splash of colour next to the Rudbekias and Gaura in the raised bed border. The sedums give interest throughout the year, but at this time when they are in flower I love the deep pink flat flower heads. 

Other flowers are still struggling on giving little spots of colour here and there, but now it's the turn of the foliage from shrubs and trees. The Rowan is starting to change colour, it's clusters of yellow berries seem to sparkle. Last year the crab apple tree produced masses of fruit but this year we have to search for the odd cluster. I don't know why that is.

 The raised bed border has become a bit overgrown in the last couple of years and I've kept meaning to sort it out, but not known quite what to do with it. The bed looks good in late spring, then gets overgrown and lacks colour later on in the summer. After much thought I worked  out that I need to dig some plants up to plant elsewhere in the garden and space others out more. Then next year I will get some new late summer flowering  perennials to plant. So on a fine day when I was feeling full of energy I climbed into it and dug up a Solidago (Golden Rod) plant which had got quite big for it's space and I had never really liked it there. I split it up and have found a couple of spaces in the front garden where I can replant it. The bed still looks a bit of a mess but at least I now have a plan of what to do with it. I also need some better weather so I can carry on with the work.

In the front garden, the Hydrangea flowers are  changing colour to shades of deep pink and almost purple on some of them. I am going to dry some of them as they are useful for winter flower arrangements.

At the beginning of September we had a few days away in Northumberland, visiting Holy Island, Bamburgh and Alnwick Gardens.  We've been to Northumberland before but never to the Alnwick Gardens so I was quite looking forward to seeing them. There are some spectacular water features, the main one greets you as you enter the garden, with water cascading down a massive structure of steps and plumes of water spurting up every half hour to give an amazing display. 

We had probably visited at the wrong time of year to see the ornamental garden at its best but it was still quite colourful in places. 

One garden area which we enjoyed, although quite a number of the plants had gone over, was the Poison Garden. Normally you can't enter this garden without a guide but we were allowed in and told not to touch or eat any plants. There were guides there who would tell you about the plants. It was interesting to identify quite a number of plants which we wouldn't have thought were dangerous, but were told how they could affect you if used in the wrong way. 

I'm hoping we will get to visit one or two more gardens before the end of the year, most likely RHS Harlow Carr as we love to see it in Autumn and also RHS Bridgewater.

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--September 2022

 

Cooler weather has arrived now, which means get out the jumpers and scarves and wrap up warm when we're outside. We've also had rain--that's been very welcome. 

The garden is starting to look autumnal as leaves change colour. The Rowan is now full of yellow berries and the Crab apple tree is full of pink fruit which will turn darker over the next few weeks. We get a lot of big birds in the garden, crows, magpies, pigeons are regular visitors.  They come from the big trees which are just further down from the garden. The smaller birds seem to be happier in the front garden. But on a few mornings recently I have been so pleased to see lots of blue tits and long tailed tits flitting about the back garden, going from the Rowan to the Crab apple and the twisted Willow. It's been a lovely sight, perhaps the bigger birds are not such early risers.

In the flower borders many flowers have started to go over, but there is still lots of colour from the Rudbekias, Rogersia, Japanese Anemone, Cosmos and Sedum--all lovely Autumn colours.

The Sedum last for ages and the seedheads still look good when the flowers have gone over. These have flopped over, I should have put a plant support to help them stand up.

The Cosmos haven't been good this year, but there's still a bright flash of colour in this little corner.

Hydrangea 'limelight' is a good one for late summer and autumn. It really lives up to its name. There have been more flowerheads this year and I have been able to cut some for the house. It looks good with the yellow grass in front.

In the front garden the hydrangea by the door is heavy with blooms which are now turning a lovely dark pink.

Hostas have turned yellow, they will soon need to be cut back as the leaves will get very slimy.  They are very bright at the moment though. 

I've been struggling with arthritis pain recently, but fortunately there hasn't been much work to do in the garden. It's been a nice change to just potter around or sit and enjoy the changing colours. Richard has been cutting back some of the shrubs in the front garden which have got so big they were taking a lot of light away. This is a job which aggravates my arthritic hands so I just stood by and supervised!

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

Through the Garden Gate--October 2020

 

We have enjoyed watching the garden change colour in the last few weeks. I do love October with all the changes in the garden and the countryside. There is still a lot of colour and interest to be had in the garden, even though the leaves are falling. We can see a lot of trees beyond our garden so we are still able to enjoy the changes in nature even after our own trees have dropped their leaves.

In the garden we have yellow from the silver birch and red from the liquid amber and rowan. 

The grasses are now more visible in the borders as the other plants die down, some of them having lovely autumn tints. The Rowan has yellow berries which contrast well with the red leaves and look like little fairy lights.  The crab apple seems to have even more fruit this year, those are red. last year the Rowan berries stayed on the tree well into the new year, but I don't think they will this year as I saw some blackbirds having a feast on them this morning.

In the borders, the pink sedums are a welcome late flowerer along with the rudbekia.  I haven't done any cutting back yet as I like to see the seedheads of some of the dead flowers and how the foliage changes colour. You can miss so much if you cut back too early. I have seen blue tits and sparrows balancing on tall stems trying to eat the seeds from the dead flower heads. This is all the more reason for not cutting back too early.

I have been busy in October making up patio pots with autumn and winter displays.  There were so many lovely colours of mini cyclamen at the local garden centre, I couldn't resist buying some and then going back for more!

The antirrhinums I potted up in the summer are still looking good so I have left them in their containers, they look as good as the cyclamen.

We have had a lot of rain recently so I haven't been out to do any gardening.  I am hoping for some fine days soon so that we can go out to visit one of the large gardens in our area to take in the autumn colours.

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