Garden Diary: September and October
This is going to be the last entry in my "Garden Diary" series. The garden is preparing for its winter rest. The project has brought me a lot of joy. It's made me love our garden even more than I already did. I'm going to miss taking the photos and preparing them for posting, here on LJ. Sharing the pictures has been a large part of the fun. I would like to thank all my LJ friends who have commented on the series over the past 8 months.
Here is the harvest of September and October pictures. First, the very photogenic ivy (Hedera helix), just before the flowers opened.
Once the flowers had opened the whole ivy bush started to buzz with insects.
Some species are a real asset to the garden because they flower for such a long time (the Fuchsia), or start all over again in autumn (the pink climbing rose).
On the other hand, some species just don't shrive in our garden. This wild Clematis is called "travellers joy" in English because of the lovely feathery seeds that stay on the plant all winter. But our 3m high climber just produced a single branch of flowers in late September. So, it has to go.
A few years ago, we planted Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) against the wall of the garden shed, where it's doing quite well.
Some of our garden plants were already there when we moved in, more than 30 years ago. These are old-fashioned varieties of Aster (now called Symphyotrichum novae-anglia). Their common name is Michaelmas daisy, we have a purple and a lilac variety.
Another plant that has been here for a very long time is Taxus baccata (Irish yew). It was probably planted when the house was built in 1924 and is now about 10m high. In autumn it's full of berries. Their shape always reminds me of stuffed olives. Once the starlings and blackbirds discover these delicacies, the berries are usually gone within a few days.
The Spindle Tree is now showing the orange berries hidden within the red seed pods.
In these months I also saw many beautiful insects in the garden:
The Red Admiral
A green grasshopper
A hawthorn shield bug and a crane fly
And, of course, lots of spiders. This is the European garden spider.
I know many people hate spiders but I don't. They weave such beautiful webs.
Who wouldn't love the creature that produced this "web of pearls".
As it's the last day of October, I would like to say Happy Halloween to everyone!
Tomorrow I'm off to Amsterdam to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I've always been glad she was born on All Saints' Day.
EDIT
Previous entries in this series:
February: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/34186.html
March: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/35170.html
April: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/35856.html
May: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/37370.html
June: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/38434.html
July: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/39646.html
August: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/40167.html
Here is the harvest of September and October pictures. First, the very photogenic ivy (Hedera helix), just before the flowers opened.
Once the flowers had opened the whole ivy bush started to buzz with insects.
Some species are a real asset to the garden because they flower for such a long time (the Fuchsia), or start all over again in autumn (the pink climbing rose).
On the other hand, some species just don't shrive in our garden. This wild Clematis is called "travellers joy" in English because of the lovely feathery seeds that stay on the plant all winter. But our 3m high climber just produced a single branch of flowers in late September. So, it has to go.
A few years ago, we planted Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) against the wall of the garden shed, where it's doing quite well.
Some of our garden plants were already there when we moved in, more than 30 years ago. These are old-fashioned varieties of Aster (now called Symphyotrichum novae-anglia). Their common name is Michaelmas daisy, we have a purple and a lilac variety.
Another plant that has been here for a very long time is Taxus baccata (Irish yew). It was probably planted when the house was built in 1924 and is now about 10m high. In autumn it's full of berries. Their shape always reminds me of stuffed olives. Once the starlings and blackbirds discover these delicacies, the berries are usually gone within a few days.
The Spindle Tree is now showing the orange berries hidden within the red seed pods.
In these months I also saw many beautiful insects in the garden:
The Red Admiral
A green grasshopper
A hawthorn shield bug and a crane fly
And, of course, lots of spiders. This is the European garden spider.
I know many people hate spiders but I don't. They weave such beautiful webs.
Who wouldn't love the creature that produced this "web of pearls".
As it's the last day of October, I would like to say Happy Halloween to everyone!
Tomorrow I'm off to Amsterdam to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I've always been glad she was born on All Saints' Day.
EDIT
Previous entries in this series:
February: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/34186.html
March: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/35170.html
April: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/35856.html
May: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/37370.html
June: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/38434.html
July: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/39646.html
August: http://ambree40.livejournal.com/40167.html