Chilling week

I have been chilling at home on my week off.Not a lot to do in the garden.I am content to watch the leaves fall from the Cottinus, and the Forsythia.

The windowsills are full of plants growing too.I have been reading other blogs too.

See whats growing in other gardens.The days are shorter in terms of daylight, and getting colder.

What is scary is some people have already put their Christmas decorations on the front of the house.

Hope all your gardens are growing on, even with winter approaching :)

Garden shots

Red Autumn leaves..














Brown mushroom in long border..














Nasturtium flower beneath the frost bitten list..

Viburnum flowers..

The Viburnum flowers. They dont smell on this particular plant. The flowers are so gorgeous with five sided petals, and airy bits sticking up.

Sad Viola

Viola has been chomped.This was the only flower i could see on the long border.The yellow centre is like a rising sun.Damn your eyes slugs and snails!!

Lunching on a thing of beauty :(

Smoke bush red and orange

Audrey plant Update

The mystery plant growing on.On the kitchen windowsill.I thought it looked like the Kalancoe but the leafs have straight edges, whereas that has serratted edged.

If it is a Sedum I need to see if it flowers before it can be I.D'd.

They are shiny and succulent like the leafs, growing in a rosette pattern from the centre.

I guess it was some kind of bird drop! Into the soil where it took root and started growing.

The roots are like big top tent roots angling down into the soil.The brown stem maybe was a flower stalk? I love mysteries and i hope to find out what it is i'm growing on the windowsill.

Fireworks!

This tree is an explosion of orange/yellow/brown growing in the hospital.
Im amazed how trees know when to take the chlorophyll away and turn their leaves into a spectacular show of colour before dropping them.
Natures own firework show, regular cycle of growth, colouration, then falling.
The november sunlight makes the leaves dance a last tango.
I love the photo :)

Anemones

Who cant adore these brilliant red Anemone pictures? They are all of the same flower from bud to explosion of crimson glory!
One shows the liquorice all sorts blue sweet, centre.They are the last flowering plant in November.The busy lizzies look tired, with faded red to pink colours.These are bald and bright!

Tomatoes in November

Tomato plant flower, second attempt at posting it!!

The yellow flower is lit like a stained glass window with sunlight.It was suprisingly sunny for November with a blue sky, and a cold wind.

The Tomato's growing in the windowsill still.I have moved the late volunteer inside too to try and get it to grow a tomato to guess what its parents were..

Autumn Light

Another Autumn pic of a tree with yellow leafs.The light streaming through the branches.
Have two more shifts to work before a week of relaxation gardening and violin playing :)

Essence of the plants

Beautiful unknown flowering shrub growing along the road that I walk down to go to the bus station.

I am always looking now for pictures to take with an eye for blogging the results.

I retook an IQ test yesterday and scored highly on the english words, and with spatial awareness and visualisation.

I put it down to taking photos and looking at the results.Only the best pics or most atmospheric make it through the editing stage.

To display a half dozen I may take about fourty or fifty.

November seems to be wet and windy, but not cool.Im between shifts so more posts tomorrow after my early start.

The flowers look like little white stars.I will have to sniff them tomorrow on the way past to see if they are fragrant. I like to look at, feel, sniff, touch, all the plants and flowers. To take in the essence of the flower, ready to try to describe it.A picture is worth a hundred words though!

Hope all your november gardens are growing on, and that you are all planning for next year with blogs, tv, and seed/plant catalogues.I know I am :)

Camelia Joys and Tribulations

The Camelia bush.It is evergreen the leafs, with gorgeous shiny surfaces.I just want to polish them!

This year I think they flowered in January.Beautiful pink flowers..

The only problem i had was the red camelia has stubbornly refused to flower.I have added pine leaves to make the soil more acidic.Fed them Ericaceous plant food.Fingers crossed.

They have been with me for two years. I think about moving them but feel nostalgic and leave them.Even when they dont flower.

They contrast to the large dusty miller on their right side, and the gnome solar light on the left!!

I hope they can both flower next year.Expect lots of pics!!

Smelling the roses

New growth on the rose bush.The colour is a mixture of burgundy and green.I want some David Austin roses for the Long border.I love the foliage, the thorns, and the flowers.Especially if they are scented.No wander roses have been grown for thousands of years.They touch us on many levels.

I dream of being in a rose garden, watching the bee's, and surrounded by the scents and sights of the flowers.Even when they pass their flowering perfection the shape changes of the flower, and other colours come out.

Cara moving...

Spoooky, ghostly Cara floating away on the grass.The under gardener.

Hollandia

Anemone with a red napkin like flower.I could set it on a dinner table.

Violin and Glad's

Hannah reminded me that i am a procrastinator.My gladiolus need digging up for the winter sleep indoors.
http://www.thisgardenisillegal.com/2006/11/corm-on-in-storing-gladiolus-corms.html
I played the violin today for a few hours. As winter moves in Garden jobs get less and less.I will practise that more and more.
I cleaned up the rubbish that the wind had blown down, uprighted a few pots. The glads can come out tomorrow.
The seedlings of the pansys are growing on nicely, i wander what colour the flowers will be :)
The hollyhocks have all wilted, from eighteen to two..Im not hopeful they will survive the winter lay off.
I cant believe how mild it is for November.Im worried now whether the spring bulbs will be as vigerous.They need a cold snap to get going!
My white birch tree is nearly bald, all the leaves are scattered in the borders and in the grass.
More pics soon, i took a few today.As the flowers lessen I will get arty with the photos!!

Cute Cat posing

Tia maria sitting on her purple cushion and watching me for signs of food!

Cara went out this morning.She is keeping an eye on the garden for me.

November flowers today..

Busy lizzie cajun great balls of fire.The colours have lightened to pink now.














Anemone de caen Hollandia, flower bud..











November, and the strawberry plants are flowering..

Light Contrasts in November

Autumn moments

The silver birch tree in November sunlight.




















The tree lined road upto the hospital.The grounds have hundreds of tree's and shrubs.They have resident squirrels, blackbirds, and magpies!



















Carpet of leaves fallen in the hospital grounds..




















Love the colour of this tree's leaves, at the hospital grounds..













The side entrance to Pinderfields with the clock tower on it. Stormy November clouds.

Service of Remembrance

Yesterday was Remembrance day, but today was service of remembrance at the Cenotaph led by the Queen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6140592.stm

Even today The guns are still sounding in Iraq, and Afghanistan, making the service even more poignant.

Here people have worn their poppies with pride, even when the liberals suggested forgetting our war veterans, and fallen soldiers from all countries.

The image was swiped from the BBC.The poppies amongst the crosses.

Between Work Post :)

The euphorbia has magic colours even in November.












Nasturtium, contrasting to the grey box.

Plants in November

Monarda Lambada still flowering in November..smells like sage...



















Colours of the Euphorbia.














Erysimum hanging on by a thread..














Lavender plant, it still smells divine!

Jewels and November gold

Little Jewels, rain drops caught in a spiders web at the base of the coal shed.The light highlights them..

The Busy lizzie flower catching the november sun in its red petals.

I have eight busy lizzies over wintering.I love the colour of these.Will take cuttings tomorrow..

More November gold, this was my attempt to take a hosta off shoot for my sister.She declined though saying she did not like a plant that died back over the winter beneath the soil.I think its a magical quality.Like a phoenix from golden ashes and rising in the spring fresh and green!!

Healing Earth

Pictured left it Monty Don. What i would like for xmas is his new book called growing out of trouble. In the course of his amateur gardening, then writing he found that growing things made him feel better.
He writes on his site the Monty Project:

"Many years ago I had a dream in which I sunk my fingers into the warm soil where they took root and grew deep into the rich earth.I awoke with a profound sense of strength and happiness and the sense of being rooted in the earth has remained with me ever since.... I have an absolute belief that the earth heals"

He says the world has become removed from the process of tending soil and growing food. The idea was formed to make a project where people in trouble with the law, and addictions should form a group to grow homegrown produce, to rear livestock on a six acre site. They then could sit around a table, and eat the food. It is a process of engaging people who have become disengaged from the communities they live in. To try to inspire them to a cleaner, less dangerous way of living. To become acquainted with the changing of the seasons. The meal is communal building, the healing is from the growing.
http://www.themontyproject.com/
He made a TV series not yet shown, and the book which is what I want for Xmas!!

It reminds me of the healing gardens of New York which I read about, but still have not seen. (Is it available on the Internet yet?It was a PBS film, but the problems of regionall DVD's and TV's meant I could have ordered a copy but not watched it when it got here).
Here is the Guardians review of the book:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/houseandgarden/0,,1939612,00.html
When I was searching for the Monty Don book I found a charity that uses gardening for people with disabilities. By enabling them, so they develop Abilities. Alas it is a London/Reading based charity but I will look for similar groups up here to try and spread the healing of gardening and growing..
http://www.thrive.org.uk/index.asp
I found it mad that two projects on different sides of the Atlantic are so similar. What I found in my garden, and what makes me blog as an expression of that.I do believe that gardens can heal, any effort in tending the earth.
Does anyone know of any similar projects where they live? Your links will be appreciated, and checked out.

November photo's

The busy lizzie flower. like red satin..














Cottinus changing colour in November..


















The Anemone De Caen flower bud.Have you ever seen them flowering in November?

Nasturium pics for Sisah

Nasturtiums look even ropier...after some frosty nights.They do not like the cold nights!!













The Flower nestling beneath the frost bitten leaves. gotta love the colours!!

Autumn Sunlight

I have finished my five day stretch at work.The weather has got colder, the sun has been shining. The garden is looking like it has partied all over the summer and is feeling tired now.My only flowers are a few busy lizzies, some late anemones, and Erysimum.

The orange roses have lost their leaves and are just stems, slightly frost bitten.

My nasturtiums have been bitten by a frost monster, and are shrivelled up.

I have two days to relax, recharge my batteries and to tidy up the fireworks, replace the holes in the ground, and do some weeding.The soil is going back to its bare state, the blank canvas of January..

The cycle of the year is three quarters of the way around.I have some post ideas as there is not lots growing.I found it hard to get a good photo today, i took a few.

Need to reply to all my comments,thanks for reading!You are all welcome!!

Sunday quick post

The kitchen window border.Its a quick post as I am going to work. There are exploded fireworks all over the garden.I will tidy up when i am not working.

I will reply to all the comments too soon.Thanks!Its cold and windy out.The light is diffused through the clouds and the white birch tree leaves.

Hope you all have good Sundays wherever you are!

Garden spirits..

Autumn Flower

The nasturtium still looks mad even when the flowers have done flowering.The lower has flame like red and yellow streaks..

Saturday night firework Lights

Tonight is not the night for an early night as all Castleford (and the country) has gone firework mad.
Big bangs, little bangs, whirling katherine wheels, whizzing rockets.
The cold November air is full of the smell of sulphur and smoke.
The kids have waved their sparklers, and been given a toffee apple each.
I can remember standing on race courses watching firework displays and bonfires.
The cold air made you wear hat, scarf, gloves, and thick coat.
Guy Fawkes are you smiling down at the remembrance of trying to blow up the houses of Parliament?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot
A lot of time has passed but the memory has passed into common memory, a public celebration every year on the weekend closest to November the 5th.
The garden clean up will start tomorrow.Not just our fireworks, but all the stray ones that have landed in our garden.
Hope you all have a happy and safe bonfire night wherever you may be celebrating!

Tia time...

Tia wanted more air time. She was chilling today on the windowsill next to the power cord thingy. She thinks she is soooooo cute, and angelic. She has a placid, sweet temprament. She is sweet, whereas Cara is wild, and inclined to steal meat off the side. Chicken bones and burgers..

Tia likes sleeping on the chairs, especially the ones with purple cushions. She snores loudly after the car accident. You can hear her, when you cant see her.

The funny thing is after the car knocked her down, she has always smelt of car oil. She would be a car mechanic i bet if she worked.

Instead she has a comfy life eating and sleeping. Running around the garden with three legs at a rate of knots.

Looking sweet and posing for photo's.She is generally inside more than Cara, so available for photos!

She loves cat biscuits, and any kind of cat meat.Miow :)

November gold

The Autumn has caught up with the Hosta's.The leaves have changed to a golden brown/yellow colour, nearly gold. They will die back and dissapear beneath the soil untill next year.

They are the sleeping giants of the square border rising from the earth, with green sail like leaves, and later on purple flowers!

I love Hostas, need to be like Sigrun and collect more types to go next to my orange tea rose bushes!!

Autumn Gladiolus

Tia angel in sunlight see her Aura

Broken wings

Broken wings
Originally uploaded by snappycroc.

Found in the mud, how sad is a fairy with broken wings?I felt like Maria with her decapitated stone Cherub.I will fix her though :(

Monarda Lambarda

Nasturtium flower with gorgeous colours

Garden update

I cannot get any photos to upload on here today. Blogger is not playing fair..So i will be describing things.Will try pics later.
The first day off saw me cutting the grass which grew faster in October than July.I planted the strawberry plants in the new herb border.No herbs there yet!
I started a new batch of compost, now nestled beneath the car carpet to keep it warm and snug.I took fifty photos today, in the Autumn sunshine.The temperature was only twelve degree's C, bit chilly.Its dropped to 5 degrees now, brrrrr!!
The gas fire is on now keeping the front warm room.The snappy gardener likes the warmth.
I took another two tomato's from my stairwell, there are six now.Flower buds and little toms are still growing.
The pansys and hollyhocks are doing well in the kitchen..i moved a pair of anemones inside too for winter colour.
My pink fairy solar light has been broken by unknown forces.Her wings are broken, and need repairing..
The cut grass smelt lovely, the sun warmed my face as i cut the grass, examined the flowers and shrubs.It was a perfect day.
I made home made pumpkin soup with the jack o lantern...mmm it was lovely.What do you do with the jack o lantern when halloween has done?