Autumn?

Despite the fact that I still can't really do any gardening and haven't done any for what seems like years but is actually only about 6 weeks, the garden is still hanging on to many blooms.  It seems reluctant to acknowledge that it's autumn and rapidly heading towards November, preferring to keep its late summer blooms.

The arbutilon still has buds on but will need moving into the greenhouse soon,

I don't remember sweet peas still flowering this late before

and the bedding fuchsias are still going strong,

as are some clematis.

Soon it will be time to protect the dahlias (I don't lift them and they seem to survive fine).

This salvia (Cambridge Blue) is still flowering well,

as is the hardy fuchsia.

But there are signs of autumn - this rose (Wollerton Old Hall) nestles amongst the decaying seed heads of the poppies,

Sedum (Red Cauli),

and this Japanese Anemone,

are surrounded by autumn leaves.

But I am still harvesting courgettes, generally only 3 or 4 a week now though,

and there are flower buds on the hollyhocks!

This little robin was singing his heart out,

he's clearly enjoying the mild weather.

A Bank Holiday Walk

We had lovely weather here over the bank holiday so I decided to set off on a walk to Cornard Mere, the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve that I'd read about when writing my post on bluebells.  I'd been a little worried that I wouldn't be able to find the footpath but as you can see it was very clear.

The ground was a dry as dust, apparently we get less rainfall here than the Sahara Desert does but we're not classed as a desert as our rain is spread throughout the year.

The website had said to 'take the footpaths to the south and the west to view the reserve' which is what I did.   However 'view' might not quite be the right word.  Every now and then, if I clambered through the nettles I got a tantalising glimpse of the wetland, but it was so over grown I couldn't really 'view' the main mere at all!

(Click on the photo above to enlarge it and you'll just see the main open mere in the background)

At one point there were lots of reeds which must give shelter to many birds and wildlife.

Despite not seeing any water birds, nor indeed hearing the elusive water rail (which was what I really wanted to hear), it was a lovely walk around the edge of the reserve and I did hear and see a chiffchaffs and blackcaps.

Chiffchaff

Time for the return walk, across the field towards the hedges of hawthorn

and the verges of cow parsley.

A nice walk, just not quite what I'd expected - I hope you all had a good bank holiday too.

Sunflower Seeds

The sunflower seeds are proving a big hit this week in the bird feeder.  The goldfinches always come in pairs.

The siskins (at least I think its a siskin as I'd never seen one before this week) tend to join in regardless of who else is around and are quite bold.

And the greenfinches also generally arrive in pairs too

I think he's wondering what on earth I'm doing with the camera up against the conservatory window!  

A Few Nice Days

The sun came out this weekend! The cold easterly wind dropped and the sun actually shone, it was wonderful.

This little scilla had been in tight bud refusing to open for weeks but is just feeling brave enough to open today.

I've had the heater on most nights still in the greenhouse but have been able to open the door during the day over the weekend!

My greenhouse isn't really big enough at this time of year so the conservatory is starting to be taken over by plants too.

Today in the sunshine the Chaenomeles blossom started to open

and I spied a little mouse rooting around at the back of a flower bed

and this young blue tit had a long feed of peanuts.

I've also had alot of siskins on the feeders today but haven't managed to get an picture that is vaguely in focus of them yet!

Maybe, just maybe, these few nice days will turn into more and more nice days.....

The White Forsythia is Flowering

When I posted about the buds on my Abeliophyllum Distichum (otherwise know as White Forsythia) several people asked me to post pictures when they opened so here they are:

It only opened properly this week and although it's still quite a scrawny looking shrub I'm so pleased that after 4 years it has actually got a decent number of flowers on it!

As well as looking delicate and beautiful they also have a very pleasant scent.  The very slight pink tinge isn't really visible except through the camera!

It's not an easy plant to locate, I got mine from the Place For Plants, but if you can track one down I would recommend it as a slow growing lovely early spring shrub.  I need to prune mine when it's finished flowering to try and persuade it not to be quite so scrawny.

I'll leave you with Mr/Mrs Robin who was watching me take photos of the White Forsythia!