Stars in the Shade.

The old seat down in the Woodland Border caught my eye with all the brightly coloured Acer leaves. A bit different from the photo above!!  Although the sun was shining, being the Woodland Border, the seat looks a tad forlorn as it's always in the shade.  These colours definitely brighten it up!

Traps of Silk

One of the many lovely things about this time of year is the way that the cobwebs come to life on damp and foggy days.  Miles and miles of silk festooned with mini diamonds - brings a whole new meaning to WWW!

Fields of Fire and Flocks of Feasting Fieldfares

Over the garden hedge, we are so lucky to be surrounded by Rob's cider apple orchards and right now, when the sun shines, they are just on fire! The apple harvest in these orchards has been finished for some few weeks now but, the fieldfares and redwings have begun to arrive and will feast on the remaining fallen fruit. It's lovely to see them and to listen to their twitterings and chatterings!  Very much a member of the thrush family, they also resemble their cousins the redwings who also overwinter here from Scandinavia. Unlike our song thrush, they congregate in large numbers. They are our winter thrushes!

Cyclical Cyclamens.

Gardening is such a cyclical occupation and, as such, we gardeners are ruled by the seasons. Now that the summer greenhouse shades are off and it's all cleaned ready for the dark winter days, how could I resist a little winter colour?  These little Cyclamens are wonderfully perfumed and they sit beneath the upper staging shelves so that, should we enjoy any winter sunlight, the won't suffer too much.  The thing about Cyclamens is not just colourful and fragrant flowers but look at those leaves!!  Out in the garden, the hardy Cyclamen Hederifolium are flowering along the Fernery path but, these little beauties are far from hardy.  I couldn't resist a few violas with their little cross faces and maybe a few Primulas later??? 

Fully Automatic Edible Greenhouse Shading

Automatic greenhouse shading - now you see it...

..now you don't!!

Not to be left out, the greenhouse vine has also dropped all its leaves now.  It's all so very convenient as, the days are becoming shorter and darker and as much light as possible is needed in the greenhouse. Later in spring, it will grow more leaves which can be pruned according to need!  It behaves exactly like automatic shading and is about the most convenient and prettiest way to shade plants from the scorching summer sun.  I know I go on about this idea but, it has been one of my better ideas!! Besides the greenhouse looks so very different at this time of year as the vine goes from its green luxuriance of summer to a stark skeletal appearance in winter.  Oh - should I also mention; we get delicious sweet white grapes too??  That has to be a bonus!

Major Leaf Clearance.

..& the dull  pear tree leaves

The yellow of the Liriodendron leaves...

A dull and foggy start but Saturday enjoyed a sunny afternoon and it was major leaf clearing! Barrow loads and barrow loads AND barrow loads! All blown up, raked up, swept up and piled high onto the compost heap for returning to the garden in the form of compost next year!  Funny how some leaves are so colourful and yet the leaves from the pears are almost black and not at all pleasing to look at.  They'll be just as many more on the ground tomorrow and the day after as there are many more to fall yet!

Cleared up but many more yet to fall!

Dark, Dank, Damp & Deep in Leaves!

It just has to have been the very darkest, dampest, dankest day and we're not even in November yet. It seemed never to get light and masses of leaves too wet to 'hoover' up remain on the lawn obscuring what little light there was!  Never, in the mid afternoon have I ever gone into the garden and taken photos using flash! n today was certainly an exception.

The leaves on both the Tulip tree and the fig are huge so it doesn't take many to fall before the grass beneath to be in complete darkness. If it wasn't for the pale gold colours of the Tulip tree leaves, these shots would look even darker! Even the sky wasn't as light as it appears.  It's also amazingly warm which is entirely unseasonal.  We haven't even lit the log burner this autumn yet as it's been just too mild.  I'm looking forward to some cold and crisp weather and a good old clear up!