Tag: Berberis

Hips, Berries & More

Published on by Catherine26 Comments

It’s almost mid-October and perennials in the garden are slowly melting away. Several have tucked themselves in for their winter slumber while others are beginning to change their colours and drop their leaves. Garden jobs continue and bulbs are about to be planted in the borders; I expect there will be more to say about that in the coming weeks.

It has been a miserable start to Autumn and there’s no word that describes recent weather better than ‘dreich’. Last weekend’s storm is past history; it howled through the garden and left no damage this time. My sisters and sister-in-law were not so lucky, with damage to gardens and/or their homes. But on Thursday, the clouds rolled away and the sun put in a welcome appearance with forecasters assuring us that we will now have settled, rain-free weather for the next 10 days. Hopefully a change is underway, just in time for mid-Autumn walks in the park with crispy, vibrant coloured leaves beneath our feet. I can dream, can’t I?

But right now it’s time for Six on Saturday!

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Warm Spring Days

Published on by Catherine31 Comments

Our temperatures reached 19C (66F) one day this week, and three other days were a pleasant 18C (64.4F). Some may find it amusing that here, on the west coast of Scotland, we consider 19C warm, but we’re used to cooler temperatures and like to make the most of warm, sunny Spring days when they finally arrive! Working and relaxing in the garden this week has been enjoyable. We’ve also had some much-needed rain to loosen up my clay soil. If I had any minor complaint it would be that the mix of sun and strong winds made it challenging to take photographs. In most cases, I waited for some light cloud cover – and here are my six choices for the first ‘Six on Saturday‘ of May.

Prunus ‘Kanzan’ is the perfect example of a wrongly placed tree. It’s at the back of the garden, surrounded by shrubs and other trees which means that I can’t get into its area to get photos when the blossom arrives. The main culprits are an old Syringa ‘Red Pixie’ that I’m planning to cut back, along with a very old and weak azalea that seldom flowers. The area needs breathing space – both shrubs might even be better removed and replaced with something else.

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