Wednesday 20 October 2010

First Frost

The first frost of the season at the weekend.

I like this sedum. It's probably 'Autumn Joy'. It has rosettes of foliage from spring onwards. Flowers form throughout the summer which start green turning to pink then red. Finally the flowers dry and last through the winter.

Cosmos are half hardy so I cut the last flowers before the frost flattened them. Surprisingly they were unaffected by the frost on Saturday night. They were still flowering Sunday morning, and last nights frost didn't bother them either.

I am preserving these oak leaves with glycerine. I have not tried this before and I am not really sure what I am going to do with them but I wanted something seasonal for the coming months.


The birds are back in the garden. They disappear at the end of the summer.I was putting out washing when this blue tit came for breakfast. I managed to grab the camera before he/she disappeared.

Thursday 7 October 2010

Asters

The tiny flowers of Aster 'Little Carlow', Aster frikartii 'Monch', Chrysanthemum 'Clara Curtis'.
The pink Asters are unknown. I grew them from cuttings taken from plants in my mums garden. This Aster was already in the garden when we all moved in over 30 years ago. It doesn't get mildew. It is around 5 feet tall and despite the heavy rain we have had recently it hasn't flopped over.
All the Asters are much loved by insects. As I pass the flowers I can hear a hum from bees and other insects.