November

Nearly the end of November already. After quite a mild Autumn, it suddenly turned very cold this week. It was also very beautiful. This is a picture of the gate into our garden in the middle of the afternoon a couple of days ago. There was a low sun and a bright, blue sky. I am surprised by how much life there still is in our garden. The cotoneaster tree is laden with berries and we are waiting for the flock of redwings to appear and devour them.

We still have some climbing roses blooming.

We also have some pretty red rose hips.

And, despite a few frosts, the nasturtiums haven`t yet collapsed.

The flowers from the late clematis have formed lovely, silky seedheads.

Mike and I have both been working hard in the garden this week. Here is Mike, loppers in hand, after pruning the apricot tree. I took this photo from the warmth of the house! You can see our artichoke heads still standing proud and adding a bit of structure to the view out of the window.

I brought some of our succulents in from the wet and I`ve placed them under our veranda. It will be interesting to see how they fare there.

I have also spent days clearing out pots and clearing beds ready for the bulbs. I`ve planted lots of different tulips and narcissi and I'm already looking forward to the first shoots of spring.

Whilst we are waiting for the redwings, I will finish with this pretty picture of pretend birds!