The sun is dawning on winter stage in the allotment. The quarters of the veggie plots are tumbling head-long into a more sedentary segment of the gardening rotation. We are helping and doing our part, and Nature is beginning to present Her ideas as to what must be done, albeit slowly. We are now just sitting and waiting until we can harvest more and take-down the green manures. This delay comes out in our favour, as it is such a treat to be in the lottie and not HAVE anything waiting to be done. Yeah, I could pull the odd weed here or there, but I can also just wait and get those when I begin the final wrap-up. Tja--why not? This temporary quiet period gives me time to look and appreciate the floral attributes of the "other part" of the allotment. The flowers with their beauty and fragrances...the birds and the insects. It is so pleasant. The garden house with its sitting outside is almost like a shady grotto thanks to the Clematises, Lonicera's and Wisteria. I have the plant, insect and bird pages on the inside of the door taped up for reference. These cards come in handy sometimes. Here you can see butterflies on these asters: A close-up of the dagpaauwoog (Aglais io). A couple of days ago we harvested some parsnips to see how they are progressing. The large patch of the purple sprouting broccoli had finished and we removed the stalks, took all the leaves off and placed them on the bed: Then, we added more material plant material and then the broccoli stalks on top of the material. You can see our home-made wax melter there in the wheelbarrow. After this, we cleaned the strawberry beds there to the left and removed the runners. Moving on to the flowers. You have already seen the pink asters, and here is the ornamental ginger (not the edible type). It is a late-bloomer. Colchicum autumnale 'alba' Finally, the "Snodonia" series: The white clematis is the Clematis terniflora. It is quite lovely especially at sundown and the fragrance is strong and sweet. I went a bit over the top with these, as I have five in the garden. Oh dear ! Fall is here but some plants do not seem to know it. Even the Phlox plants that I did the Chelsea chop on are still blooming-away. That was the whole idea though. Good luck to all you gardeners with your winterization efforts.
Thanks for your reaction to the posting and compliment, Netty. The lottie is winding down, but not leaving without a burst of colour. I'll bet your blooms are also looking good, aren't they?
Thanks so much Mart. I am enjoying those blooms and their colour so much in these waining days of fall.
What a beautiful shot of your garden...or one aspect of your garden that is. The colour of that great tree and the black eyed Susans look so lovely. I have often thought how nice it would be to have borders like you have. You have done such a good job with yours. If my garden looked that good i would never get any work done, i’d just sit all day and look at it. Chapeau.
Our Garden has been put to sleep, so I sit often on the porch, looking at the leaves. Soon the colors will fade and the drab winter will come.
I love that shot of your garden. I am so behind on my work.... Winter may be drab to some, but I hope I can use the time to catch up on all the work waiting for me.
