Tag: Rosa

Late Summer Gardening: What’s Growing in Week Two of August

Published on by Catherine20 Comments

I opened the blinds early one morning this week and looked down on the garden. ‘Autumn has definitely arrived’, I thought, before remembering that it was only the 5th of August. The garden still has plenty of flowers, but that morning the garden looked defeated as the rain hammered down and the wind howled. I kind of felt a bit like that myself.

The explanation from the experts is that Scotland has either been under, or on the cold side of the jet stream that has stubbornly refused to move out of the way to allow warm air to flow up from the south. I think most of us here have accepted that all hope of a real summer has vanished. My mind is now starting to turn to late winter and spring flowering bulbs and plants. There’s always something else to cheer up home gardeners, isn’t there.

Here is my contribution to this week’s Six on Saturday.

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Frost

Published on by Catherine22 Comments

Winter frost creates an atmosphere of calm that I love – despite the bitter cold that accompanies it. I love the muted colours that appear in the garden and on farmland beyond our fence.

The pale green of frosted grass sets the scene and the frost works its magic by coating the remains of autumn foliage, softening them to lightly coloured golds, browns and greens. The stillness of the early morning mist obscures any distracting objects in the landscape beyond, but within the hour the sun will break through to touch the plants and the mist will lift. The air is cold enough to believe that this frost will not thaw much, and by night another layer will be added to it, or perhaps a blanket of snow will follow.

Here are a few softly-coated, frosted leaves that one early December morning brought to tempt me out with the camera.

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