Autumnal Flowers

It's autumn and there's still plenty of colourful plants in the garden. The last of the summer bedding plants are still going strong and there's still fruit ripening on the apple trees and tomato plants. Salvias give displays of white and pink along the edge of the borders and the berries on the weeping cotoneaster tree are vibrant. 

Sedum plants have begun to bloom adding clusters of gentle and deep pinks and the verbenas are still happily reaching out to the sunshine we've had recently. Hydrangeas are another of my favourites, they can always be relied upon for that late summer and autumn colour. We've have different colours and varieties for interest in the front garden. 

Amongst the hydrangeas there's a scattering of other perennials still adding colour - catmint, Johnson's blue, anemones, late roses, geums and daphne. Then there are the autumn brights - the yellows of the potentillas and rudbekias. 

It's possibly one of the most beautiful times in the garden before autumn slips into winter and the days draw in. 

October and the Walled Garden at Holkham

We were in Norfolk at the beginning of the month and the weather was glorious and sunny and we went for a look around the stunning walled garden at Holkham. The gardens are an ongoing and huge renovation project, which is interesting to see as the years go by. 

We came here once about four years ago and the renovations were in very early stages. Since then an enormous amount of work has taken place and many of the once derelict looking areas have been completely transformed. 

Although it was early autumn there was still plenty of colour and interest. 

The garden dates back to the 1700s and the walls act as a windbreak and reflect the sun to create it's own microclimate in the garden. There are some spectatular Victorian greenhouses, which have been restored with the help of the English Heritage. There are sunken greenhouses too and there are plans to renovate them. 

The garden contains orchard areas, a vineyard, greenhouse areas, an enormous fruit, vegetable and cut flower plot and a most stunning herbaceous square containing a rose garden. 

October is a beautiful time in the garden, the fruit is picked and the herbacous borders and annual plants are finishing, but I always think that this adds to the beauty and change in colour. Fading sunflowers created beautiful structures, the sunflower heads heavy with seeds. The last of the tomatoes were in the greenhouse and it gives you a sense that summer is not quite over and hopefully might stretch on for a few more weeks! 

There were still plenty of roses in bloom in the rose garden and it was a balmy day, so the scents were mingling with the gentle aroma of wood burning somewhere in the distance, this time giving that feeling that we are actually in autumn and conjuring up those thoughts of log fires and cosy, warm nights. 

Autumn thoughts were with me once more in the vegetable garden where squashes and pumpkins

were growing. It made me think of homemade, warming soup and crusty bread! 

I was delighted to see sweet peas, scattered around the garden, growing in displays as though it was high summer. There were in groups of just one colour- shades of pinks, reds and berry colours. Then there were patches of another autumn favourite of mine - sedum - it always brightens up the garden when the rest of the plants are fading back. 

It was a beautiful day, balmy and warm just like it can be in summer with just a slight autumn nip in the air now and again in the breeze. The garden echoed just that - that summer meets autumn feel; that not quite autumn yet and summer hasn't quite finished yet feel! 

July in the Garden

July is pretty spectacular in the garden this year. I've been really pleased with the new planting in the front garden where we had a big overgrown tree chopped down earlier in the year. We deliberately tried to choose plants that would come at their best during June and July and be a magnet for the butterflies and bees. We picked various colours of blue, lilacs, purples with a few pink and white plant varieties too. 

The weather conditions during the last year have been good for breeding butterflies and we seem to have literally created our very own butterfly garden, so I've been delighted. Planting out new plants and just seeing how they turn out and what unfolds can be so rewarding! 

Varying heights of purple wallflowers and different varieties of lavender. 

Butterfly enjoying the blue catmint. All the blue and purple plants have been covered in butterflies. Every time we come out of the house and walk past this area we are treated to dozens of butterflies fluttering up from the plants. It has been fascinating, you find yourself stopping and staring, it's not so good if you are in a rush! 

Enjoying some verbena, which is now out in full. 

Delphiniums are out at the back of the borders. 

Wallflowers, lobelia and geraniums make a good combination by the back patio. 

The water lilies are just beginning to flower now, the pond is full of their leaves and blooms. 

Bright pink carnations make a great colour combination with the bronze leaves and pink flowers of the heuchera. 

Sidalcea malviflora flowering in the back border. 

The tomatoe baskets are full of fruit and are ripening nice and early with all the hot sunshine we've been having. 

There are still plenty of foxgloves blooming and popping up in all different places. I love the colour combinations of this one. 

I've made a few pots full of wildflowers planted from seed and they are looking great at the moment, full of vibrant colours. Cornflowers are one of my favourites, I love this shade of blue. 

We have quite a few hebe plants flowering in pinks, blues and purples, another good one for the butterflies! 

There are lots of these little froglets around. We have to look out for them jumping into the house. The pond is full of frogs, when we have the heavy showers we've had recently they all seem to come out of the pond and jump across the garden. It's a mass exodus of frogs and quite entertaining and funny to watch!