My Little Garden 24th Oct 2020
Is it Saturday again already? Another week of lockdown has passed by with much angst and anger, particularly in Greater Manchester. I’ve never particularly thought of myself as a Mancunian having been born in Gloucestershire and lived in Wiltshire, Shropshire and Lancashire, but I understand the strength of feeling and solidarity coming from fellow residents over the shambles that we now find ourselves in.
We have been in lockdown number two here in Trafford since the beginning of August with, amongst other restrictions, a ban on meeting friends and family inside or out. Based on the current stats, that policy has clearly been extremely effective! I’m very fortunate that I can carry on working as normal and financial security isn’t an issue, but so many people are about to lose a significant part of their income and in many cases their jobs. And just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any more nonsensical the Govt. added insult to injury by deciding to stop supporting ‘free school meals’ over half term. As far as I understand it, a child in need will get a ‘meal’ while at school or a food parcel /voucher if they are self isolating, just not at half term…….
Moving on, and reading back on my last few blogs, I suspect I’ve been getting away from the subject of gardening quite a lot in my opening paragraphs, so without further ado I shall revert to greener matters. I’ve sneaked in a photo of my old, partly repainted, arbour in the header shot in so I can ‘accidentally’ show you my favourite asters again which really are the stars of the garden at the moment. I’ve had a request to plant them in a client’s garden so I hope you’re going to stock them again next year Bluebell Cottage Garden.
Apart from the few remaining flowers, and I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I find it’s getting harder every week to find new and interesting things in the garden to share. So here goes with this week’s selection of garden gems.
1.I was very lucky in a rare sunny moment this week to spot a Red Admiral admiring the new colour of the arbour. It’s been a few weeks since I last saw a butterfly in the garden, but there it was and I had my camera with me to take photos for this blog. The plant you can see in the background is a jasmine which probably needs taming a bit next year but it has been very floriferous.
2. This penstemon has been brilliant all summer. It’s in a spot which I would describe as semi-shade in summer but full shade from mid September onwards. Clearly this position suits it and it’s still covered in flowers.
3.If you regularly read this blog you might remember that I’ve shared photos of this plant a couple of times before. It was bought on a whim from Bluebell Cottage Gardens back in early summer and I’ve been waiting for it’s flowers to appear. They are very dainty and daisy- like but it’s the variegated foliage that is really lovely.
4. Some of my geraniums just aren’t prepared to give up yet. G. ‘Anne Thomson’ and G. ‘Ann Folkhard’ are both still providing little splashes of bright magenta colour.
5. Now I think we all need something to look forward to as we head towards the end of October, so these next two photos might not look very interesting but I’m very happy to see some promising little flower buds. The first is a mahonia which lives in a very shady corner and whose flowers provide some welcome nectar for any little buzzy creatures out and about in the cold weather. It will be November before the flowers open, but it’s good to have some bright yellow colour when nothing much else is happening.
6. And secondly are the little buds on the first of the hellebores. This one retains it’s leaves in good condition throughout the year but the flowers are of course the real stars and it looks like they just might be open before the end of the year.
So that’s my Six on Saturday for another week. Links to lots more ‘sixes’ can be found on the blog of The Propagator who is the creator of this weekly collection, and there are many more excellent photos and blogs on twitter under the hashtag #SixonSaturday
https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/
Wishing you a great weekend. I should have been looking forward to a garden visit and mini break but being in Tier 3 we are confined to home territory again. A week of half-term gardening it is!
