garden visiting

A sunny weekend day to enjoy the very end of summer in a garden. These photographs were taken at West Green House. I visited the day before it closed at the end of the season but there were still plenty of flowers and colour.

Lots of bees and butterflies too.

In the vegetable garden flowers grew alongside vegetables, all neat and tidy with box hedges

and fruit arches.

There was more box in the Alice garden, this time some clever topiary, a teapot

and a very cute teddy bear.

The lake and meadow was less formal and felt peaceful and calm.

This is the paradise garden with fountains and white bark birch trees, a simple space

in complete contrast to the hen house which was very elaborate and stylish, just like the hens themselves.

Finally just a glimpse of autumn colour reflected in the lake.

at home this week

This week I picked, boiled and strained the crab apples and now I have the juice to make into jelly. The harvest is late this year, when I made jelly a few years ago I picked the apples at the end of August.

Blackberries are ripening later as well, due to the cool summer perhaps. These have been frozen to be cooked with apples in the winter.

I've been thinking about indoor plants. Hyacinths and Paperwhites have been planted in pots. The hyacinths are in the cool dark of the garage until the shoots appear but the narcissus sit on the kitchen windowsill where I will watch them grow and flower over the next few weeks.

I'm also taking cuttings to rejuvenate some favourite indoor plants. Its good to have some flowers and foliage inside as the plants outside slow down for winter.

Summer into Autumn

The end of summer is turning into the beginning of autumn, my favourite season. The nights are cooler and the days shorter. Although the countryside is beginning to quieten, to die back and to hibernate, September always feels like a time for beginnings - memories of the start of the autumn term and the new school year.

I've had a busy few weeks, a family holiday in Wales, visits from family, the start of the university term for youngest son etc but now the rush is over and the gentle days of September are here.

Although we are past the autumn equinox, the days have still been warm and sunny, I'm taking time to enjoy them while they last.