Autumn Flowers

Compared to last year, this autumn has been warm, and to date we have had no frosts.  I love gathering a few flowers from the garden to put in the little vase my father bought years ago when travelling in Japan.  My mother mostly used this little vase too, so I also always think about them when I make up my little bouquet...they were very good gardeners/plant collectors and flower arrangers.

October bouquet with fuchsias, phloxes, roses, and hydrangeas.

November bouquet with roses Ghislaine de Feligonde and Grace.

I'm working over some of the garden borders:  moving plants around, dividing clumps of perennials and making room for a few more roses for next year.  I love bulbs and particularly love snow drops.  When we first moved here, I planted various clumps around the place, and during my border digging put my spade through several.  I've split them and planted them up into pots, as I don't know for sure where best to plant them, and will wait till the bulbs are peeping through to place them.  A big change for next year will be the lack of wisteria...they were just out of scale with our small garden, and for flowers for just a few weeks, we had to do battle with the growth for the rest of the year.  More gentle climbing plants such as clematis and roses will be taking their place, and hopefully I shall have even more roses to cut and enjoy!

All my tender plants are now potted up and in the conservatory, and around the house.  The watering system we put in during the summer has really meant a difference to the plants and the ones in pots are in good condition.  I planted up three pots of tulips for the spring, but covered them with netting as we have the pesky grey squirrels who are always looking for places to dig.