Tuesday 16 October 2012

A Farewell To My Summer Garden

It is sad to see the end of my summer garden.  Knowing that from here on in there will only be grey as I look out my kitchen window.  But some of the flowers and plants are giving quite a grand farewell.  How brave they are to bare their heads during the early frosts and the pounding rain.
The ever reliable nasturtiums that always add wild colour to my garden in late summer and to the salad bowl too.  And I'm not the only one to love them.  They are great to attract butterflies and bees to the garden.
I really love the colour of these dwarf lupins.  Even the little furry seed pods are very attractive.  I took some of the seeds this year and put them under our laurel hedge and I hope that they will add some colour to it next year.
I love the way that these ganzias are the colour of fire.  They are reluctant little flowers as they only like to open in the warm weather.  I think that this year they just got tired of waiting and finally despite the cold they flowered in all their glory.
This poor little lone geranium flower is all that is left on the plants that flowered all summer long.
My elderberries have finally ripened.  One month late.  I was beginning to think that these little black beauties would just fall from the tree still red as often happens if the summer has been too wet or cold as it was this summer.  I must have a jam making day soon.  They make wonderful elderberry jelly.
The Japanese maple that sits just outside my kitchen window in all its golden glory is very slowly turning red. Worryingly I must move this tree next year in order to build my studio.  I'm hoping that it will survive the move.  Would you know what is the best time to move it?  Winter or early spring?

And finally the tree at the end of my garden.  I can never remember the name of it but as my mother gave it to us when we first moved in here, we call it Ma's tree.  It is wonderful and changes colour throughout the seasons.  In spring it has vibrant red berries and soft yellow leave in the summer that slowly turn green and then to deep red in the autumn.  Fantastic display.
Well thanks for taking the time to visit my garden with me.
Rosie xx

4 comments:

  1. You have so many lovely flowers still ... here in Wisconsin they're mostly gone (except my marigolds which are cosseted under a tarp every night for the sake of the basil that grows beside them). Your geranium looks very like the ones that grow wild here in the spring (ours are pink). And those lupins are gorgeous. It IS very hard to say goodbye to the flowers every year.

    Re your Japanese maple: Ellen at Growing Gills has a Japanese maple farm - I'll bet she could answer your question.

    http://roaring-camp.blogspot.com

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  2. Hello! This is Ellen at Growing Gills. Sue mentioned your question about moving your maple. I checked with the "experts" (my son and my husband) and they said the best time to move it would be in the winter when it is dormant. I don't know where you live and if the ground freezes...that would certainly be a consideration. But I would guess that you would have a window of opportunity soon.
    Best of luck, Ellen.

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  3. Beautiful images Rosie. I must go ahunting for elderberries, I was beginning to despair of them here,

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  4. Thanks for sharing your garden. Your lupins are beautiful, and quite dramatic!

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Rosie xx

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