At last, a dry week! I have managed quite a bit of raking the leaves which have come fluttering down rather quickly and had a few sessions in the woodland getting ready for snowdrops, some of which I have found are up and nearly flowering. We had our first frost last night so yesterday was spent making sure that the greenhouse and conservatory were well prepared, the greenhouse isn’t heated so the plants there just have to take their chances, the conservatory is heated to just +5C, hopefully everything will be ok. when I go to check. The following photos have been taken at various times during the week, ready for todays S.O.S.
No 1
Acer Osakazuki has gone from bright pink/red to silvery grey. The leaves all came down quite quickly and I am left with hundreds, if not thousands of seeds.
I sowed some outside last year, but something nibbled them all before they had a chance to grow, I think I will try again, but try inside this time and hopefully give them a better chance of surviving.
No 2
Iris unguicularis Walter Butt, in the driveway border was flowering well all week, I hope it doesn’t regret it with the frost overnight.
The flowers are looking rather nibbled, but even so it still looks rather lovely.
No 3
More autumn tints, this time the Wisteria on the garage is having its final fling before dropping its leaves.
No 4
I have lots of Campanula poscharskyana in various places around the garden, they are all putting out a few flowering stems, looking very springlike.
No 5
Snowdrops are pushing through, it won’t be long before they are flowering, so I must get on with the tidying. This is Faringdon Double in the back garden.
When tidying the woodland the other day, I noticed that G. Little John was well up and thinking about flowering, maybe the frost will hold them back a bit, I would rather they didn’t flower yet, I feel it is too soon.
No 6
Just a week ago I showed you tight buds on the Camellia in the back corner of the garden, what a difference a week makes!
This was the first plant that I bought when we moved here 33 yrs ago, it is now a large shrub and absolutely covered with flower buds, unfortunately I have forgotten which variety it is.
Hopefully the frost won’t affect it and it will carry on flowering all through the winter, making the back corner of the garden look rather pink.
I have had a look at my Chaenomeles which often starts flowering in November, not this year though, lots of buds have formed but only one tiny chewed flower has appeared so far, definitely not worth photographing! Everywhere looked very white once the sun came up, it made such a change from the eternal wet, hopefully it will kill off some of the nasties! Thanks again to Jim at Garden Ruminations where you can see gardens from around the world.
Lovely Camellia 🌸 That iris is nice, despite the chews. Some of my photos are of chewed flowers too, they often have a beauty all of their own!
Thanks Sarah, the iris looks so delicate, you’d think it would flower when it is warmer!
There were rather too many of the early x williamsii’s named, ‘St Ewe, ‘November Pink’, ‘Bartley Pink’, ‘Exbury’, ‘Moira Reid’ are all possible. Probably a few others too.
Thanks for your helpful list Jim, Exbury rings a bell, we visited the garden there shortly after moving here when we had a holiday along the south coast.
Ooh Snowdrops already!
Not quite Rosie, but it won’t be long now!
Lovely pictures but the camellia is undoubtedly the star this week, it’s beautiful
Thanks Helen, the camellia is so reliable, it always starts to flower in November and carries on right through the winter.
Nice pics! My favourite this week, of course, is the pretty camellia flower but also the campanula. I went to check because I have the same variety but mine are not flowered. You are lucky…
The Campanula never seems to be without flowers Fred, sometimes, like now, just a few, but it never seems to stop.
The camellia is a beautiful bloom. I
Thanks Topdock, I look forward to it flowering at this time each year.
An amazing number of seeds on your Acer Pauline. I hope you are successful getting them to germinate this time. Of all the Campanulas, C poscharskyana really is my favourite.
I will certainly try again with the Acer seeds Denise, with so many, surely one or two will survive! I have to keep an eye on the campanula, it does spread rapidly here, it must like my heavy clay, glad something does!
Oh, I’ll have to go out and peer at the ground to see if I have any snowdrops pushing through. I think it’s a bit too early for here though. Beautiful camellia flowers – they give much-needed colour at this time of the year.
The snowdrops aren’t usually so far forward at this time of year Catherine, Faringdon Double is usually flowering by Christmas but Little John is usually flowering in January, I think the cold spell will slow them down. The Camellia is on track, its lovely to have such bright pink flowers in the winter months.
The silvery seeds of the Acer Osakazuki look very pretty indeed. I must check whether there are any snowdrops coming up in my garden yet – I hope so as it means I won’t accidently dig them up when planting the tulips.
I’m hoping the cold spell holds the snowdrops back Graeme, as it is more difficult raking the leaves off without damaging the flowers. I put all my tulips in black plastic pots as I don’t know where other bulbs are, I can then plant the tulips once they are showing, straight from the pots.
I do hope the acer seeds grow. Love the iris and campanula. How lovely having the promise ofsnowdrops.Goodness,whata beautiful camellia.xxx
Thanks for your lovely comment Dina! I think everything will slow down now that the weather is getting colder, but hopefully the camellia will carry on flowering.x
The acer looks so pretty with its seeds! I forget how much I like those until they appear every year 😀 One that that SoS taught me this year were that there are such things as autumn-blooming snowdrops — we’ve got a healthy population of nivalis here and just about nothing else, but would love to have some for other seasons. Will have to keep an eye out!
I must remember Angela, to pick some of the seeds and try again to grow some seedlings, last years were eaten by something! When I started collecting snowdrops I made the decision not to buy autumn flowering ones, I feel they belong in the winter. I have some which will flower about Christmas time and that is soon enough for me. At the moment I am preparing the woodland, getting ready for snowdrops, weeding , raking leaves , and then mulching, should be ready in time for my visitors to come and see in February.