What a lovely October we are having, makes up for the wet weather in August. Unfortunately due to a dislocated shoulder I haven’t quite managed to take advantage of the unseasonally good weather! I have had to restrict myself to continuing to paint the metalwork, some of which is in poor condition, I hope I am catching it in time to preserve it. It being Autumn I have had one obligatory enormous bonfire, as our waiting for the bonfire pile was too tall to stack anything else on! That and trimming back finishing flowers and giving the mediterranean shrubs on the terrace a much needed trim back to stop them completely taking over the pathways.

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Apologies to the bird whose nest in the purple sage I inadvertantly exposed during my pruning.

The advantage of having to work at a somewhat gentler pace has been the rare opportunity to enjoy the things that are going on in the garden at the minute. I spotted the Colchicum ‘Waterlily’ which I planted last month are now flowering up on the terrace.

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Far more beautiful in real life than in any catalogue.

October seems to be a bit of a season of pink up on the terrace with Salvia and Guernsey lily (Nerine bowdenii) flowering up there now.

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Unknown tender Salvia

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Lovely Nerines!

I still have plenty more bulbs to put in ready for our NGS day in February next year. If you are interested in volunteering on the day in the garden or helping to organise this event please get in touch as we would like to re-form our Friends of the Garden group next year and start to plan more events in the garden.

There is some nice autumn colour in the garden along with the late flowers too, something we are looking to develop in the future too.

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Morning mists with the Koelreuteria tree.

We have had our first mild frosts in the garden now, but not yet enough to finish off even the courgette plants. Nasturtiums are still flowering and the leaf vegetable like the Kales and Chard are still looking good.

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Scarlet Kale plant with climbing Nasturtium pyramid in the vegetable gardens.

Our winter tree works are beginning again to remove some more dangerous trees in the woodland walk again on Wednesday weather permitting so the garden will be closed on that day.

Do come down and enjoy the weather on our new benches too! With a combination of funds from our Santander grant, NGS Day donations and a both a donation of free benches and a generous discount on those purchased from Robert Dyas we have now received 8 new recycled plastic benches for the gardens. We have installed 6 so far and hope to put in the remaining two soon.

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