The Tuesday View: 24th October 2017

It’s been two weeks since my last Tuesday View, and the differences are noticeable… what happened to the leaves on the Acer?!

As you can see, it is looking very autumnal. Looking across from the pathway the view has now opened up as the acer has returned to a skeletal form and the Golden Rod has been partially removed.

I can now see the crisp upright Calamogrostis and Zebra grass as I walk down past the acer…

… at the bottom of the path, looking back up, the freshly trimmed box is also visible after cutting back the peony foliage which was lying flat and already decomposing.

The lovely Aster Alma Pötschke has gone over – its moment of glory was brief, but I did make the most of it this year and cut lots to bring indoors. The Perovskia is now a ghost of its former self, but with no flowers left to weigh it down it can at least stand to attention before it is pruned for winter.

The beautiful Miscanthus ‘Adagio’ will continue to look pretty for some time, and my Hypericum has surprised me with some amazing new growth and fresh flowers. There is one single Lychnis flower among the Teucrium too…

I am hoping the first frost will come late this year, and will then be followed by some mild sunny days to tidy up after it!

24th October 2017

Finally, a couple of shots of the old Tuesday View from last year, dominated by the spiky red flowers of Persicaria Firetail…

I look forward to seeing your views too, and if you wish to share them please leave a comment below with a link. 🙂

 

In a Vase on Monday: Pink and Gold

This time last week I was travelling back from the UK after a wonderful weekend on the North Norfolk coast with my family to celebrate my Mum and Dad’s Diamond Wedding Anniversary. (That is 60 years!) The sky was not quite as stormy as today’s, but a rather strange golden colour, which I later learned was Sahara sand and smoke from forest fires in Portugal, whipped up in the ex-hurricane Ophelia crossing Ireland. But that same storm had sent warm air up the East coast on Saturday and Sunday for us to enjoy views like this…

Aaah, bliss! (With air temperatures above 20°C I even took the plunge – literally – and went for a brief dip in the sea, but the water was coooold!)

Despite grey and showery weather today, I enjoyed returning to my Monday routine of gathering flowers for a vase, albeit from a now very autumnal garden, so that I could join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden  for her weekly meme. Cathy is travelling this week, but has still posted a vase full of her lovely Cosmos. I hope to catch up soon on all your wonderful vases from last week as well. 😉

I think the dark skies in the background are a good contrast for some colourful flowers!

And below, photographed from a slightly different angle, you can just make out the colourful hills in the background – on the other side of our valley.

The Cosmos are standing up well to wind and rain, and I have also included the last of my Anemones. But the pinky red Persicaria Firetail is the predominant flower in this vase – it makes the garden glow and is still sending up new buds.

Below, the lovely no-name Aster, given to me by my dear blogging friend Annette , is flowering beautifully. I have paired it with the chocolatey leaves and creamy white flowers of Persicaria Red Dragon, and my “Gold Aster” – Chrysopsis speciosa ‘Sunnyshine’ – to highlight the yellow centres.

Also added were a few white Scabiosa and some of the white annual Verbena…

The delicate Persicaria flowers are embracing my Zebra grass seed head – the first it has ever produced! Another looks like it is about to emerge, so I have cut this one to enjoy indoors.

Thanks once again to Cathy for hosting. 🙂

Have a great week!

 

The Tuesday View: 10th October 2017

I wish I had taken some photos yesterday in the sunshine… today is damp and gloomy. Nonetheless, there is lots of colour to brighten up my Tuesday View still!

Looking down, we can still see Sedums and the amazing purple spikes of Teucrium. The Acer suffered in our gale last week, but is hanging on to its leaves still!

Looking across, the giant Miscanthus is a backdrop for the dwarf one in front…

And looking up from the bottom of the rockery, the Aster ‘Alma Pötschke’ has stood up well to the wind and, as the Helianthus now fade and collapse, the golden Chrysopsis speciosa ‘Sunnyshine’ is providing some lovely yellow flowers on the left. It is about 150cm tall and this is the first time it has flowered although I planted it in spring last year.

Another nice surprise is this white Clematis re-flowering… I bought it as a creeping Clematis x jouiana ‘Praecox’ some years ago, but am convinced I was sold something different… any ideas anyone?

I will be posting my views less regularly from now on, but do please feel free to continue joining me and leave a link so I can find you!

Happy gardening!

 

In a Vase on Monday: Alma and Co.

Each Monday I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her meme, which encourages us to find suitable materials from our gardens to put in a vase. This week I am cheating a little…

My first vase is actually from early last week. With a severe storm forecast I picked some of the Aster ‘Alma Pötschke’ just as it was beginning to open so that I could enjoy the flowers indoors…

The buds all opened in the warmth of the house and are looking at their best today, five days later. 🙂

Alma is a tall aster, flowering from the end of September/early October and the bees and butterflies love it on a sunny day. I actually cut some of these back in May, hoping to avoid them getting too leggy, but the shorter ones almost caught up with the ones I didn’t trim.

The second vase contains flowers that are not in my garden, but were picked for me by my Man of Many Talents from a field in the countryside. Sunflowers, Phacelia and various other wild flowers are sometimes sown after the main harvest in August, as food for the bees I assume, and to be ploughed back into the soil in late winter as a natural fertiliser. (Being skeptical as I am, I fear EU subsidies are the motivation for farmers to do this!)

The sunflowers grew so quickly in this field, and flowered in record time.

The Phacelia smells wonderful, filling the room with its sweet scent.

Do you see wild flowers in fields near you so late in the season?

Now go and visit Cathy and see what she and others have found to put in a vase this Monday.

The (Real!) Tuesday View: 3rd and 4th October 2017

Well, yesterday just slipped away – it was a bank holiday here (Day of German Unity – can you believe it is already 28 years since the Berlin Wall came down?!) and one thing led to another and the fact that it was a Tuesday didn’t dawn on me until dusk.

So here is the view on a Wednesday – the Acer is about as good as it gets and not quite as stunning as some years but gorgeous nonetheless.

From above…

From below…

From the side…

The Sedums are deepening in colour, the Helianthus are going over after being battered by heavy wind and rain, the first Asters are starting to fade and the pink Alma Pötschke is about to take the stage. It is looking untidy everwhere with fallen leaves and decaying foliage, but I just love these colours and the disorder never bothers me at this time of year. Do join me if you like, and post one view of your garden through the changing seasons, leaving a link in the comments below.

Are you seeing lots of colour in your garden this week?

The (Alternative) Tuesday View: 3rd October 2017

A walk in the woods, and the evening sun…

I’ll be back with my regular view tomorrow – a day late! 😉

 

 

In a Vase on Monday: Autumn Blush

There’s a lot of pink in my garden at the moment… this surprises me each autumn but is not at all unwelcome as it goes so nicely with the peachy rusty shades of fading foliage. So these are the colours featuring in my Monday vase this week, as I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden again for her weekly meme.

I picked the last of these peach roses and one pink one (all no names!), some of the now deep pink Sedum, Scabiosa, the rose ‘Fairy’, Aster ‘Little Carlow’ (I think), Aster ‘Lutetia’, and a little pink Aster given to me by a friend last year, Hypericum berries, Pennisetum, Hakonechloa (now with pink tinges), a Geranium flower and various Cosmos. I chose my blue teapot as a vase – although these are actually Cornflowers on it, they remind me of little blue asters.

Do visit Cathy to see what seasonal delights are being put in vases around the world this Monday.

And have a great week!