In a Vase on Monday - A little late in the season

Its a little late in the season to be picking roses, and I had not expected to find much at all in the garden.  It was not until the afternoon that I felt able to go into the garden to look around...

The rambler Ghislaine de Feligonde with her buds and small flowers has come through gales and heavy rains, with still a few pretty stems.  I love the way that the colour changes during the year, and there are purple blotches on the leaves, which appear to be an autumn colouring rather than a disease.  This inspired me to pick a few of the heads from sedum, and a spring of Lophomyrtus x ralphii Black Pearl, and a few leaves from my latest Hardy native everygreen fern Polypodium vulgare, whose spots of purple spores echo the contrasting theme.

The leaves may have finally been stripped off the trees, with many lying on the bed of heathers and conifers on the front garden, but I have this little vase to bring a little solace.  We were away in Cambridge when we heard about the dreadful atrocities in France, and this was very much in our thoughts, and we joined in with the prayers of the congregation as we attended Evensong at Kings College Cambridge.

Cathy has managed to post what I think is my favourite arrangement so far...so graceful, so elegant, so do go and let me know if you agree with me.

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.

Roses Grace and Ghislaine de feligonde come up trumps in local show

Two new roses in my garden.  Grace was planted in a pot last year, and Ghislaine de Feligonde only this year.  I bought Grace during a visit to David Austin last year.

I only got the rambler Ghislaine de Feligonde, this year after hearing it being lovingly described by Mrs Ann bird, Vice President of the Rose Society at the Kenilworth and District Horticultural Society.  She gave the lecture in March, and the very next day, I went to visit Hinton's Nursery .  They were expecting an order from David Austin the following week, and with a phone call and an email they managed to get me Ghislaine de Feligonde.   I have been amazed by this beautiful perpetual rambler.  I love going into the garden and picking a few flowers for the house, or for posies for friends...and with a new rose, I feel it is kinder to cut the flowers quickly and allow the shrub to grow good roots and leaves rather than spend energy on blooms...well that is my excuse.

I was delighted to win two first prizes for these and also best in Classes 1 - 4.

Grace is a beautiful apricot colour, and already in late August, a whole second flush of roses which my Aunt admired yesterday.  Aunty Pat has failing eyesight, with macro degeneration, but she had to stop at this rose...she thought at first it was a large dahlia plant, the flowers were so numerous and colourful.

The past few months have been so busy for me....and I am now having to take it a little slowly due to a sore thumb joint...and whilst I was sorting through a pile of papers, whilst dear hubby was doing the heavier jobs, washing up, hovering, well jobs which hurt my hand....I came across my certificates etc. so I looked up the pictures I took at the time, and decided to put them up.  Nice to look back on during the winter months!