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    Six reasons to be contented with the garden right now – November 10th 2018


    November 10th, 2018 - cottage garden plants

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    There are still many beautiful and joyful things happening in our gardens as autumn progresses.  Here are a few in the garden here.

    To remind you of the size of this town garden, it’s 21ft wide and about 35ft long both front and back.

    ONE

    Here is the front

    0fGzE21MTxyeaaRcCdVR1Q.jpg

    and shown below is the back just after I power washed the brick paving.  It looks fantastic.  It took 6 hours of washing, scrubbing and brushing.  Unless I repeat all that regularly it will be black and slimy again in no time but now I can just enjoy it and not think about having to do it again.

    IMG_4503.jpg

    TWO

    This little sedum (?) has survived for a few years in a small pot and has needed no care at all.  Right now it’s putting on lovely colours.

    container plants in a cottage garden

    Lovely colours of a sedum in a pot

     

    THREE

    This is a common acer which is thriving in its pot in the shade of the apple tree.  Right now its colours are lovely and when the leaves drop they’ll make a red carpet that lasts for a few more weeks too.

    Japanese maple

    Japanese maple, acer, thriving in a pot in semi-shade

     

    FOUR

    This shrub down the front path is a sarcococca.  It’s glossy, evergreen, indestructible, has berries and most importantly has tiny sweet smelling scented flowers from now through the winter.  It fills the whole front garden with scent and in winter that really is something worth having.

    scented shrubs in winter

    Sarcococca showing berries and flowers

    FIVE

    This miscanthus grass will still look lovely dry and golden brown through the winter and I then cut it down to ground level in Feb/March.  It sits there for a few weeks and then rises up with green leaves in the summer and then this……….

    grasses in a cottage garden

    Glorious colour from the miscanthus

    It lights up the front garden like a permanent bonfire.

    SIX

    Hardy geraniums – the best cottage garden plants in the world in my opinion – I love everything about them.  Here is the very common geranium Rozanne, on sale everywhere and you can see why.  What more would you want from £3.99?

    hardy geranium Rozanne

    Geranium Rozanne – flowers non stop

     

    So there are Six lovely things going on in the garden right now, to balance out the bits where nothing much is going on except decay and bare stems.  Thanks to the Propagator, host of this  Six on a Saturday and over on his blog here  you can find others on the same theme.

     

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    18 comments on "Six reasons to be contented with the garden right now – November 10th 2018"

    1. Beverly says:
      10th November 2018 at 1:22 pm

      Lovely fall garden. Love the pots and the brick walk.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        10th November 2018 at 10:37 pm

        Thankyou Beverley, I hadn’t thought of it as a fall garden but you’re right, it is.

        Reply
    2. Ian Barber says:
      10th November 2018 at 1:51 pm

      Love Autumn sunshine, and so nice to see colour still in your garden; up here in S W Scotland a few heavy frosts have done for most things!

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        10th November 2018 at 10:35 pm

        Ah Ian you must be in a beautiful part of the world I imagine. Sunshine gave way to wind and torrential rain tonight and the acer has lost all its leaves today. No frost here yet though and some winters we don’t get much anyway. Do you have a blog too that I can follow?

        Reply
    3. Fred says:
      10th November 2018 at 2:11 pm

      Nice Six !You have the taste of the arrangement of plants in your garden . Everything is well structured and attractive, the plants and accessories are beautiful …even also the pots are beautiful…Always a pleasure to look at your blog every saturday

      Reply
    4. Gill Heavens says:
      10th November 2018 at 3:40 pm

      I love the brick paviours, so lovely, worth all the work I hope. Isn’t Rosanne a treasure? The acer is looking lovely, as is the rest of your garden!

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        10th November 2018 at 10:32 pm

        Thankyou Gill, yes it’s worth the scrubbing and very satisfying. Sadly the wind blew off all the acer leaves today – lucky I’d taken the photo yesterday. Torrential rain here now. Rozanne is doing great in lots of places in the garden. I just love geraniums, don’t you?

        Reply
        1. Julie Quinn says:
          10th November 2018 at 10:33 pm

          Well thanks so much Fred for those lovely words. An advantage of a smaller garden is that one can keep on top of it and keep it looking nice most of the time. I enjoy your Sixes too.

          Reply
    5. Jane says:
      10th November 2018 at 10:35 pm

      Your brick pavers are a most lovely warm colour and look wonderful after your hard work. Also I like the warm colours of your autumn leaves. I love the Acer. I have one in my garden, but the climate is most unsuitable so the leaves never colour like yours, they mostly become brown and crinkled.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        10th November 2018 at 10:40 pm

        Thankyou Jane for your appreciation. Sadly the acer lost all its leaves today in wind and torrential rain. Thank goodness I took the photo yesterday. Gosh the leaves only lasted a few days! Where is your climate Jane??

        Reply
        1. Jane says:
          12th November 2018 at 7:08 am

          I am in the Central Tablelands of NSW Australia, Julie, about 260km north west of Sydney. We are in the middle of Spring, of course, and because we’ve had some very welcome rain, Spring is particularly floriferous this year. Later it will become very hot, and my Acer will struggle.

          Reply
          1. Julie Quinn says:
            13th November 2018 at 7:45 am

            Coo Australia, and reading each other’s blog. Isn’t it marvellous!

            Reply
    6. Nate says:
      11th November 2018 at 4:39 am

      I agree! I’ll take hardy geraniums any day!

      Reply
    7. Alexandra Campbell says:
      12th November 2018 at 6:33 pm

      The brick courtyard was worth all the effort – it’s looking great. When I used a power washer I merely transferred all the dirt from the terrace to myself.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        13th November 2018 at 7:44 am

        Ha! Yes i had to have 3 changes of clothes. Even my knickers were soaked.
        I was very moved by your blog, and am glad to now know more about you. I thought you described the loss of a feeling of safety so well and it is more common than we perhaps think. As a GP counsellor I meet such shocking stories more often than most – and aren’t we glad that mental health is now being championed a bit more. So huge thankyou for writing it and three cheers for we gardeners who inspire others to get out there and plant things. Best wishes, Julie

        Reply
    8. Lora Hughes says:
      13th November 2018 at 4:23 pm

      I’ve not lived w/sarcococca for a few years & reading about yours brought that smell right back to memory. Such wonderful stuff. Your brick pathway looks gorgeous! You’re rigiht – enjoy it now & think about the next clean when the time comes.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        13th November 2018 at 6:17 pm

        Yes sarcococca is great isn’t it. Thanks for the encouragement about the paving – it was jolly hard work but so worth it. I’ll report back on how long it lasts looking like that in another blog.

        Reply
    9. Gill says:
      14th November 2018 at 9:50 am

      Looks lovely. The brick path was well worth all the effort

      Reply

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