Another week flown by, our promised thunder and lightning didn’t materialise on Wednesday, after a shower first thing we had sunshine all day just to round the mini summer off. It is now quite a bit cooler with showers on and off, the garden has appreciated the showers and my water butts are filling up nicely, so happy plants and happy gardener! My six for this week are….
No 1. Cotoneaster
Definitely an autumnal feel to my 6 this week. This is Cotoneaster horizontalis is on the kitchen wall and loved by the bees in the spring and the birds in the autumn.
No 2 Wild Blackberries.
It seems to be a good year for blackberries, I’m going to try and pick these by the gate before the birds get them all, don’t worry, there are plenty more for them to enjoy. But a few of these with Bramley apples from up the other end of the garden will make a gorgeous crumble!
No 3 Holly berries
Another plant that is having a good year is my holly, Ilex Golden King. It is covered with berries this year as are the wild bushes in the hedges, there are going to be lots of berries to decorate our houses for Christmas!
No 4 Rose Hips
All my single roses are covered in rose hips, this is Rosa glauca in the back garden, I can imagine my little dormouse fattening up on these ready for hibernation!
No 5 Cyclamen hederifolium
Each day when I go to the woodland to see how things are, more cyclamen have popped up, they are nowhere near their climax yet, lots more buds still to open, but getting better each day.
No 6 Fox Cub.
Not a very good photo I’m afraid. It was taken at about 6am and of course the fox cub wouldn’t stand still to have its photo taken.Quite frequently lately I have seen a fox in the garden by the back door at this time of the morning, this morning though I saw two! They were having a wonderful play on the circular lawn, just as well that the meadow was cut the previous week! After a lot of zooming around and rough and tumble, they both came and had a good drink out of the bird bath! It was a magical 5 minutes.
Definitely an autumnal feel to the garden now, lots more cutting back and deadheading got done this week, I suppose this will now continue until everything is looking more presentable once more. Thanks once again to Jon The Propagator for hosting, do pay him a visit to see lots of other gardens round the world.
Blackberry and Bramley (has to be Bramley doesn’t it) crumble, one of my favourites. The Golden Holly is lovely Pauline and one I have not come across before. How magical to watch the fox cubs playing!
Brambles are safely gathered in Denise, I will celebrate with a crumble tomorrow! Holly Golden King was misnamed, they thought it was a male until it produced berries! Watching the foxes at play was a real magical moment, I felt it was a privilege to watch them for so long.
Those blackberries look delicious. Blackberries here don’t seem to get enough water during autumn and tend to be a bit dry.
Cotoneaster is a great plant for the reasons you give in your post.
The blackberries were lovely and juicy Jane, one thing we have here is plenty of rain! I agree about the cotoneaster, it is a wonderful plant for wildlife.
Is it OK to envy you having fox cubs playing in your garden while being quite relieved they’re not in mine. My parents had them in their garden quite a lot and they did quite a bit of damage with their diggings.
Yes, it’s ok Jim, so far they haven’t caused any damage, I hope it continues. I think they would have a job digging here, unless they like digging in heavy clay! Until the other day I thought it was just one coming to the garden but it might have been a different one each time, now I know there is more than one fox cub around.
Oh, lucky you having foxes in the garden, magical indeed! Love your autumnal berries, how quickly it seems to be rushing in.xxx
It was wonderful to watch them playing so close to the house Dina,a real privilege, makes getting up so early worth while! Autumn is definitely all around me now, leaves are turning colour and cooler weather has arrived,evenings are much darker now and soon I will need to put the wood burner on, but hopefully not for another couple of weeks.x
We had the thunder and lightening on Thursday Pauline. The rainfall was rather dramatic! I am fond of cotoneaster horizontalis too – I was gifted a cutting from my parent’s garden many moons ago. As you say it is loved by both the bees and the birds 😂
You seem to have got the weather we were promised Anna.We have since had plenty of rain so the water butts are nice and full once more although I suppose that not much more watering will need to be done now at this time of year. I have had the cotoneaster in a few of my gardens, wouldn’t want to be without it.
How brilliant to see the foxes – when we first moved in we saw one in the garden, but the boundaries are very different now and they would find it hard to get in or out. What a great crop of berries and hips you have this year!
It was wonderful to see them both having such a wonderful time playing Cathy, but I haven’t seen them since! The berries are doing even better now, lots more on offer for the wildlife.