Six on Saturday 07/11/20

After all of last weeks rain we’ve had some glorious sunny days this week but this has meant that the night time temperature has been around zero degrees several times. The frost has thawed quite quickly though. I still haven’t got the glasshouse properly set up for winter yet – where does the time go? The nights are supposed to be quite a bit warmer this week so I’ve got a bit of time to sort it out. Talking of time, it’s time for this weeks Six from my garden.

• The colder nights have finished off most of the summer pots and I’ve been refilling some of them with bulbs and/or plants for winter interest. I’ve used the vine weevil nematodes again this year and have only found the little devils in a couple of pots of succulents which is a great result.

The Fuchsia flowers in the last two pictures belong to a large potted F. ‘Gartenmeister Bonstedt’ that has been flowering since June. It hasn’t been too badly affected by Fuchsia Gall Mite and I’m going to give it a reprieve. It also hasn’t been affected at all (yet) by the cold nights.

• The Hydrangeas aren’t showing as much autumn colouring as in previous years but this one adds a splash of colour in its corner.

• A lot of the herbaceous perennials in my long border have finally given up the ghost and I’ll now be able to go in and start moving a few things around before it gets too cold. I was going to show Ageratina altissima ‘Chocolate’ last week but thought it would wait another week. Sadly, the frost arrived before I took a photo and the foliage has collapsed. The white flowers still show well though but I think the show is stolen by Symphyotrichum x frikartii ‘Monch’ which has been flowering for months – it’s an early flowerer but has normally finished by now (for me) – and the Miscanthus.

• Further along the border the flowers of Knautia macedonica seem to be getting smaller but are still quite prolific. It’s a good doer.

• The border is backed by a Beech hedge, planted three and a half years ago to replace a dying Leylandii hedge. I’ve been willing it to grow to enclose the garden and it’s getting there. It’s turning a lovely rich colour.

• This Peacock butterfly flew into the kitchen the other day and sat on the sunny windowsill for a while. It’s wings look very ragged but it had no problem flying. Sadly, there have been very few butterflies in the garden this year, apart from the Cabbage Whites.

I find it hard to believe that it’s November already. I’m hoping that the weather holds up so that I can spend a lot of the latest lock-down outside. Best place to be. Have a great weekend, stay safe and keep checking in with our host at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/