Autumn in my garden

I love, simply love Autumn and Winter.

At no other time of the year do I feel more energised, more in tune with the natural world.

I listen to my work colleagues grumble about the rain or the cold, or the clouds and wind.  I listen and I pity them.

 I spend more time in my garden through the autumn and winter than I do in the summer.

 My magnolia doesn't seem to mind the winter.....

 The rain stays glistening on the plants all day....

My walnut tree plays games with me... I gather up the leaves and as I pass by it sneakily drops more behind me.  I know what is really going on.... it wants me to stay out there and keep it company - I love that tree.

The cyclamen start flowering...

 Rain wets everything and leaves adorn everything...better than any xmas decorations....

 My potted camellia blooms giant flowers that dwarf the plant.... how marvelous!

Naturally I love my garden all year round.  But at this time of year it seems to speak to me.  Its quiet grandeur, its complete disregard for my son's regular (albeit grudging) lawn-mowing, its timeless march through the decades; all make me feel like it has condescended to allow me to be its guardian.

And I am a willing disciple. I would pick those leaves up one by one and by hand if I could.  Sometimes I do then I place them underneath the balding canopy so as to preserve the cycle of life and let the leaves protect their mother with their mulch.

If you stand still long enough the protective cocoon of the life around you blocks out the traffic, the dogs and the sounds of civilisation itself.  The leaves crackle, the ground sighs as you step on its soggy dampness, the air whispers in your ear.

Love Love Love

The black and white of it.....

These past 3 days the temperature has been in the high 30s (90s F) and yesterday we cracked 40 (104).

It was danged HOT.  And as I wilted the world of nature exploded.


My Black Hoya erupted in dozens of glorious pods with a delicate aroma.  This plant has been in a 50cm square pot for 15 years.  It is root bound beyond comprehension and yet every year this is what I get.  I want so much to repot or transplant it but I am scared I will destroy it.  Is it possible to feel sad for a plant.  I worry that it is suffering in the pot. I worry that it sometimes dries out and doesnt exactly look healthy each year.  It has covered the wall of the front porch and has even woven itself behind the gutters.  I don't care.  I love it and it stays!



At least I had the presence of mind to put up a trellis when I first sited it there.

Hoya flowers from the same flower spike every year.  The spike (no idea what the proper word for it is) grows by one layer each year.  So you can see in the pic below here that I do not lie when I say it has been there for 15 years.

new growth flowering as it hangs in the air looking for purchase.

  In contrast is this white hydrangea flowers from new growth each year. It needs to be pruned and pruned hard but it gives its all in gratitude.

When I am sad I turn to plants.  When I am mad I turn to plants.  And when I am happy I return to plants.

What a wonderful planet we have.  These next 3 pics are from a friend's house where I spent the gap between christmas and New Year.  These are her views......... what bliss!