A couple of weeks ago I took some photos of my autumnal garden as I thought that the leaves wouldn’t be hanging on for much longer.
The acers (Japanese maples) are looking good, as you would expect.
Our weather has been so mild that everything is confused about the seasons, with some birds actually starting to nest again. As you can see the ceanothus (Californian lilac) beolw, which normally flowers in July and August, has begun to bloom again. It’s more than a wee bit worrying!
I think the berry tree below is some sort of cotoneaster. It has lovely bright berries anyway and at the moment I’m trying to turn it into a manageable shrub rather than the too big tree it was becoming.
The hebe (Veronica) is always a good splash of colour in the garden at this time of the year.
Below are some general views of parts of the garden.
The photo below is of one of my favourite plants Viburnum tinus, the birds love it for the berries, it’s evergreen and the flowers last so long too.
Don’t look at the leaves on the rose below! I have no idea what the rose is called but it flowers like mad and the cold weather seems to have no effect on it at all, it gets really big so I’ll have to be brave and whack it back. Sadly it has no scent.
Two weeks on from when I took these photos, the begonia and fuchsias are still going strong. I can’t bring myself to clear the begonia away until it dies from the cold. The fuchsias will be good for next year though, I’ll give them some shelter over the winter.
It was a strange gardening year as it was much hotter and drier than we are used to here in the east of Scotland. You would think that that would be a good thing but the flowers didn’t last nearly as long as they usually do and it was sad to see blooms over and done with so quickly. Yes – we gardeners are never happy!
I love all these pictures, but especially the Veronica and the Japanese Maple. I cannot believe those fuchsias are still looking so good.
It has been colder than normal for this time of year here and I am having problems motivating myself to do the gardening I need to do.
tracybham,
Hmm, I know the feeling, I still have some tulip bulbs to plant, but somehow I can’t get around to doing it!
Looks lovely! I love the path between plantings and the shelter and seclusion.
We also (I live in the south-west archipelago of Finland) had an unusually mild autumn but then a bitter easterly wind brought frost last week and even snow all of a sudden. Many shrubs were still green and then just froze. It is worrying, since they had not yet prepared themselves for winter. One can just hope for the best. Hebes, Ceanothus and that lovely Viburnum tinus can’t manage the winter here, even in the mildest part of Finland where I live – sadly.
We have had longer and longer drought periods in the recent summers, that too is worrying. When would an ideal gardener’s year come!
Saila,
What a shame that so many lovely plants won’t survive your winters. I’ve only been to Helsinki. We get an east wind here in Fife in the winter, that’s just one of the reasons that I miss the west of Scotland as it is generally a wee bit milder as we have some influence from the gulf stream there. Last Spring an air frost got the new growth on my acers and it was really sad to see it all blackened but they recovered well after I pruned off the dead bits. No – gardeners are never happy about the weather, it’s always bad for something!
Beautiful! I love the colours of autumn.The weather has been so odd this year that it’s definitely been affecting the plants differently.
kaggsysbookishramblings,
I now have some apple blossom about to open!
Your garden looks gorgeous in fall!
Stefanie,
Thanks. I planted the acers for autumn colour really.
Hi Katrina,
To think that you have such gorgeous blooms going on in November! The Japanese maples are stunning, and the photo of the rose knocked me off my feet. In November, at your latitude? I loved each and every photo. I so enjoy your garden posts!! Thanks so much for the effort in putting this post together.
Judith,
That rose bush has about a dozen blooms on it and they seem to be in suspended animation as the cooler weather is preserving them. It’s not unusual to have roses out around Christmas too, which will be here in no time.
How lovely! I hope some of them make it through til Christmas.
The beautiful things that happens here in November and December are gentle lake-effect flurries, from Lake Ontario mostly, and occasionally Lake Erie, too. We’re due to get just a bit of snow from both lakes tomorrow, due to high winds from the West. Usually the sun appears off and on amidst the snowflakes, dimly, and that is beautiful, too. Ooh, I’m planning an extra-long doggie walk tomorrow and Friday.
We had a horrendous, battering rainstorm today, which kept us cowering indoors! Now the deep cold to follow.
Judith,
We had a whole November worth of rain inside a day and a half! I imagined you would have been deep in snow by now. We had a hard frost a couple of days ago, and since then all day fog.