Category Archives: wildlife

Purple foliage of a few shrubs and grass against green foliage of other shrybs.

Begining of October 2026

flowers, foliage, wildlife

The weather is a mixed bag just now with rain showers then sunshine but mostly it is a little chillier.  It is that time of year to give the garden a vine weevil treatment using nematodes so both the front and back gardens have been treated as well as the patio and conservatory.  I have potted up the crocuses, the early irises and the narcissi and put them all out on the patio.  The tulips can wait until November but I only have a few of them.  Amy scraped the weeds from the spaces between slabs on the patio and that makes a big difference to the appearance. I have been cutting back the most straggly looking perennials just to keep things a bit tidier.

There are still lots of flowers out:  Japanese anemones, persicaria, agastache, fuchsia, some grasses (the miscanthus and hakonechloa), a few weigela flowers, a few viburnum flowers, a few purple hellebore, verbena,  cyclamen and erigeron.  The roses have plenty flowers and buds still.  There are a few plants with  bright red berries  like the variegated holly, and the self seeded cotoneaster.

Red flowers on a persicaria amplex Blackfield.
Persicaria amplex Blackfield.
Shrub of cotoneaster with tiny dark green glossy leaves and bright red berries.
Self seeded cotoneaster.

The oranges and reds in the acer shirasawanum are looking great just now along with their red keys.  The crab apples are also turning orange.  The stems of the dogwood are turning red and the rowan foliage is turning a lovely red colour too.

autumnal colours of an acer tree with red keys.
Acer shirasawanum autumnal colours.

Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Garnet’ is still purple but it will soon be turning bright red. I love the way some of the viburnum leaves are tinged with the same purple colour as the acer leaves and the miscanthus flowers.

Purple foliage of a few shrubs and grass against green foliage of other shrybs.
Garnet shade of purple in grass and shrubs.

There is more dark purple in the heucheras and the borrowed landscape of my neighbours trees.  These dark purples are offset by the golden foliage of the heathers, some ferns,  and the hakonechloa grass, and the silver foliage of the snow in summer.

I inherited a pot with an azalea plant in it and this little plant has sprung up in the same pot.  I am not quite sure if it is a geranium lucida and if it will be a problem in the future but just now it looks good with it’s autumn colours.

A hardy geranium with autumnal colours in a blue pot with an azalea.
Possibly geranium lucida.
close up of geranium leaves with autumnal colours.
Geranium lucida perhaps – but it has a few hairy leaves?
view of a garden from the patio at the end of September beginning of October 2026.
End of September beginning of October 2026

Last month there were slugs in the birdfeeder but this time it is a snail is having a kip in the feeding hole.

A common brown snail resting inside a birdfeeder's hole,
Snail snoozing in the birdfeeder.

This adult frog came to visit overnight in the conservatory – don’t actually know how long it had been in there.

Adult common frog sitting on a draught stop in the conservatory.
Frog in the conservatory.

And staying in the conservatory – the lithops flowers were completely eaten overnight by a small slug that got into the conservatory.  But this is what they did look like for a day or so.

2 daisy like white flowers on lithops plants.
2 lithops in flower.

Last month I watered the succulents but I must have given the Glottiphyllum a bit too much as a couple of leaves have split near the base as the cells burst.  It isn’t a disaster as the outer leaves will die off when the new leaves come up.  Rooky error though.  My Cheiridopsis is pushing up 2 new leaves and is looking good but the other lithops didn’t flower this year and don’t look like they will push up new leaves any time soon.

I was gifted another 2 succulents for my collection (from Hubby – thank you): a Sedum burrito and a Euphorbia trigon rubra.

Aqua coloured succulent leaves of a sedum burrito plant.
Sedum burrito.
Upright cactus plant with red colouration to small leaves and stem. Euphorbia trigon rubra.
Euphorbia trigon rubra.

Now is the time of year I have to watch and not over water everything.  The conservatory can still get very warm on a sunny day but the nights are cooler.

 

View in a shady garden corner with golden acer, white persicaria flowers against dark green shrub.

Beginning of September 2026

flowers, grasses, slugs, stumpery, wildlife

It is the meteorological beginning of autumn today and it certainly feels it.  Sun, rain, a little chillier and the colours are starting to change in the garden.  Some leaves have been turning a bit earlier this year possibly due to the shortage of rain during the spring and summer and the high temperatures.  I will be planting the tree I bought a few weeks ago in the stumpery now that we are getting more rain and I still need to find the amelanchier trees that I wanted for other areas in the garden. I will need to move a few plants around on the patio because all the ones that like the sunshine are now going to get waterlogged if I don’t.

Harry found something in the garden and brought it in to me to see if I knew what this weird brown squirmy thing was and I was so pleased to see it was an elephant hawk moth caterpillar (Deilephila elepenor).  I have seen plenty in photos but never in real life. When they are moving around you can see their heads properly but when they think they are under attack they tuck their heads under and show off their markings that look like huge eyes. They are pretty big caterpillars and they turn into amazing pink and buff coloured moths.

Large brown elephant hawk moth caterpillar moth markings that look like eyes. Moving across paving slabs.
Deilephila elepenor (elephant hawk moth caterpillar).
Large brown elephant hawk moth caterpillar half curled up showing defence 'eye' markings.
Deilephila elpenor (elephant hawk moth caterpillar) showing ‘eye’ markings.

I am still doing slug patrols in the mornings to keep the numbers of the very large Spanish slugs down.  I hardly ever see our small grey native slugs except on the patio.  I do still get a lot of the green or yellow cellar slugs and they are goodies so I am happy about that.  I even found a couple having a rest inside my bird feeder.  I have a couple that come down the house wall around lunch time from the rhones and they then go into the house vent at the bottom of the wall.  Later on they make their way back up the wall to the rhones again.

Green/yellow cellar slugs resting under the top of a birdfeeder.
Slugs resting in the top of birdfeeder.

In flower now: the roses have plenty of flowers and buds, Japanese anemones, verbena, persicaria, pink heather, cyclamen, weigela, a few sporadic flowers on hardy geranium, erigeron, fuchsia, selinum and a couple of grasses (miscanthus and hakonechloa).  Even some hellebores have started to flower.  The hakonechloa on the patio has some purple lines through the leaves and the seed-heads are slightly purple tinge that goes nicely with the purple flowers on the hellebore beside it in pots on the patio. The white persicaria in the stumpery doesn’t have big showy flowers but it brightens up the shadier part of the stumpery and shows up well against the dark green shrubs like the Sarcococca.

Golden grass alongside a purple flowered hellebore.
Hakonechloa beside double purple hellebore on the patio.
Pink heather with a bee.
Self seeded pink heather.
View in a shady garden corner with golden acer, white persicaria flowers against dark green shrub.
Shady corner in the stumpery.
view of the garden at the end of August 2026 showing perennials and shrubs.
Beginning of September 2026.
Pink, and white Japanese anemones besise deep purple roses.
Middle bed September 2026.

In the conservatory I have started watering the succulents like the lithops, which were starting to look very wrinkled, and now one of the smallest ones is just coming into flower. I am still learning about these and trying not to over water my succulents.  They apparently want watered during the autumn and spring, but not through the winter, and very sparingly through summer if at all.  The leaves don’t look great just now but once they have  flowered, new leaves will form and push up in between these leaves using  up the nutrients and water from the old leaves which will eventually shrivel and die.

Green lithops with white flowers about to open.
Lithop flowers about to open.

For now I will be just dead-heading and tidying some plants in between rain showers and trying to source my amelanchier trees.

Single white Japanese anemone flower.

Mid August 2026

butterfly, ferns, garden, wildlife

We just had another heatwave albeit a short one but it did rain too so all is well in the garden and the pond had a good top up.

I see a couple of shrubs in my neighbours garden have gone totally brown now and look quite dead which is a shame.  There are a few poor elm trees in the golf course which are in the process of being felled because they have Dutch Elm Disease.  Some of the ash trees have Ash Die Back and have to be felled too at some point.  Now the elm is away you can see another dead tree through the gap.

Tree surgeon in orange high viz top felling an elm tree infected with Dutch elm disease.
Felling diseased elm tree.
Gap left where a diseased elm tree was felled.
Diseased elm gone.

The persicarias and Japanese anemones are flowering away as are the verbena, oregano, agastache and erigeron.  The roses have more buds for their next lot of flowers with the exception of the moss roses.  The heucheras are almost over, astrantias too.  There are a few flowers on some hardy geraniums, campion coronaria, nepeta and the odd flower on the weigelia and hebe.   The purple loosestrife is going over but still attracting butterflies.  This large white (possibly male) stayed still enough for a quick snap.

Large white butterfly on the purple loosestrife flower spike.
Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae)
Single pink Japanese anemone flower with dark green background.
Anemone hupehensis Japonica ‘Montrose’ pink
Single white Japanese anemone flower.
Anemone hupehensis Japonica ‘Whirlwind’ white

The honeysuckle is looking good: the flowers have turned to bright red, jewel-like berries.  Other plants with berries are the rowan and berberis.  The elder didn’t have many flowers this year therefore not many berries.

Yellow and pinky red honeysuckle flowers
Honeysuckle flowers at the top of the arch.
Small clumps of bright red honeysuckle berries.
Honeysuckle berries at the top of the arch.
View of the garden from the patio mid August 2026.
Garden mid August 2026.

There are the first tinges of dark red on the miscanthus ‘red chief ‘ grass which looks good against the acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ .  There is only one grass flower head so far but soon there will be masses.

Large green grass with dark red tinges on the leaves against the purple foliage of an acer palmatum.
Red chief miscanthus grass against acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’.

There are lots of cracks in the retaining wall of the raised bed which the ferns take advantage of.

Fern growing in a crack in a wall.
Cracked wall with fern.

It is sunny but cooler today so I will just enjoy the garden instead of working in it I think – well, apart from taking more pond weed out and being on the lookout for the Spanish slugs.

Foxglove plants ranging from purple, pink, apricot and white next to s seat.

That June heatwave!

conservatory, flowers, foxgloves, garden, plants, wildlife

Yep we finally got the heatwave and yes it was very hot, but thankfully not nearly as hot as it got down South.   I tried to do any watering in the morning and most of the work before lunch time as I don’t do well in the hot weather.  Just now in the garden it is mostly dead-heading and weeding and I have made the decision to get rid of the viola as they are an absolute headache.  They are popping up everywhere and spreading like wildfire.  It is going to take quite a while before the garden is rid of them.  I will need to find some clump forming perennials to replace them rather than ground cover plants.  There is/was a pink astrantia in a pot on the patio which I thought would do ok in the stumpery where we pulled out the viola but it had been totally eaten by snails!  I will give it ago anyway and see what happens.  I have given some hardy geraniums a chop back and left a few others  still for the bees.  I will chop those back shortly.  The heavy, thundery, showers that came along with the heatwave have brought down most of the petals from the philadelphus, some roses and some poppies.  Luckily I had asked Amy to put up some canes to tie in the thalictrum just in time so they stayed more or less upright.

Sadly when we moved the potted astrantia Harry found a New Zealand flatworm sitting near it.  Now I have to pull all the patio pots out and check underneath them!  Huge job.

The bees are loving the yellow thalictrum and the campanula and the foxgloves (when they can get into them). The foxglove below is actually a nice apricot coloured foxglove but the colour didn’t photograph well.

a brown garden snail having a snooze inside an apricot coloured foxglove flower.
Snoozing snail in a foxglove.

The astilbe are in full flower now, as are the roses and the campanula (which I really aught to trim back).  The foxgloves are always a joy but after the heavy rain and wind they are now all at a jaunty angle – this photo was taken just before the wind.  There is a mixture of pinks, purples, white and apricot.

Foxglove plants ranging from purple, pink, apricot and white next to s seat.
Foxgloves in the stumpery.

A couple of foxgloves however which are growing nearer the back wall are being shredded by the snails!  The flowers are ok but the leaves are now only midribs.

The other plant which has succumbed to slugs and/or snails is the Scot’s lovage It did still manage to flower but I am not sure if I will keep it as it never does very well.  However some wildlife likes it.  The ladybird and some kind of longhorn beetle shown here.

An iridescent green longhorn beetle on an umbellifer and a ladybird on the foliage.
Longhorn beetle and ladybird on Scot’s lovage.

We used to be able to have our dinner on a nice sunny patio, but with the increasing height  of the golf course trees it gets very shady by 19:30 which in a heatwave is rather nice but I think I would rather be able to enjoy the sunshine a bit more on the patio in the evening.

A view of my back garden in the shade.
Shady afternoon in the garden.

In the conservatory the Echinopsis eyriesii (only just found out what it is called) has had 2 flowers this year and the scent is amazing.  It is always a shame the flowers only last a day.

2 large white scented flowers on a cactus plant.
Echinopsis eyriesii flowers.

And I treated myself to a couple more succulent plants – lets hope I can keep them alive.

2 small green, succulent plants in terracotta pots.
Titanopsis calcarea and Haworthia cooperi v pilifera.

At the moment It is a case of keeping an eye on beasties, keeping things watered, and getting rid of unwanted plants that have become unruly.

a view of a garden in mid June with colourful plants and bird feeders.

Mid June 2026

flowers, scent, wildlife

They say we are heading for another heat  wave –  well not so far.  Still waiting for some sunshine and  warmth without that chilly wind.  We have had yet more rain which at least means I don’t have to water the garden but we didn’t get enough to fill up the pond.     It is baby frog time so they will enjoy the damp weather I am sure.  I am so happy to see damselflies again at the pond.  There were a few red damsels and the odd blue one too.  I saw a couple who had mated and the male was holding onto the female with his grippers while she laid her eggs in the pond by some vegetation.  A third one (probably a male) kept trying to butt in.  There was also a lone blue one hanging about.

single red damsel fly on a curled up lily pad.
Single red damselfly.
male red damsel fly clasping the female damsel fly while she lays her eggs.
Red damselfly couple – female laying eggs.
Male red damselfly clasping the female red damselfly while she lays her eggs.
Male red damselfly clasping female.

I am still trying to get a good photo of a small copper butterfly but this one will have to do in the mean time.

Small copper butterfly on a variegated holy bush.
Small copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas)on a variegated holy bush.

The red keys on my acer are tiny but very pretty against the bright green of the leaves.  My next door neighbour has a large red acer which has bright red keys and they glow when the sun catches them.

Bright green acer leaf with red keys (seed) on it.
Acer shirasawanum Aureum leaf with red keys.
Red acer leaves with red keys (seeds) beside them.
Neighbours red acer with red keys.

Lots of things are in flower just now and the place is absolutely buzzing with bees.  However just gone over are the honey lilies, weigela, syringia, stonecrop,  rhododendron, azalea, weigelia, aquilegia, hebe, saxifrages, forget-me-nots, and irises.

The stonecrop had amazing colours: bright yellow flowers, some green leaves, some purple leaves and some almost silvery with a coating of farina.

Yellow flowers on a stonecrop plant which ahs some purple, some green and some silver leaves.
Colourful stonecrop.

I do love Pattie’s Plum poppy and there were a few planted next to the cirsiums but I only have 2 left.  I don’t think they live very long so I need a few more.

In flower right now are: most of the roses, philadelphus, erigeron, purple clematis, nepeta, some hardy geraniums, briza grass, astrantia, some primroses, cowslips, lavender, foxgloves, deutzia, cirsium, thalictrum, orange geum and honeysuckle.  The wonderful fragrance in the garden comes from the honeysuckle, philadelphus and deutzia.  You do have to be closer to the roses to catch their fragrance.

Yellow and purple honeysuckle flowers with green leaves on the very top of an arch.
Honeysuckle.

Overall the garden is looking good just now with a few areas that are dissapointing.

a view of a garden in mid June with colourful plants and bird feeders.
View from the patio mid June 2026

The damp area that runs along the side of the ramp just annoys me now.  It looks great when the persicaria are up and flowering in august but until then it is just an eyesore and now the harling is split again and some persicaria is coming up behind it.

green leaves of persicaria popping up behind some broken white harling on a wall.
Persicaria coming up behind the harling.

Snails (I think) have demolished the 3 agastache I had planted behind the garage and have had a good go at  the eupatorium and marigold on the patio.  One marigold was totally stripped but I saved a couple by putting them on the patio table.  I had used crushed oyster shells on the surface of the eupatorium pot but that did nothing.

In the conservatory 2 of  the lithops have now split but the smaller one has not done anything this year so far. ( I have now found out that they should had have a pot of their own as they are not all the same species so I have given them a little pot each now.)  I treated myself to 3 tiny new succulents when we went to the cactus  and succulent show Saughton Park and how anyone can remember the names of these things is beyond me – I am still learning how to pronounce them.  I have another couple in the post – who knew I would get interested in succulents?

Lithops splitting.
Lithops splitting.
three small succulent plants in small pots.
3 new small succulents.

So the weather forecast for today was 90 – 95 percent chance of rain all morning and we didn’t get any!

view of the garden from the patio with trees in the background.

Scent in the garden mid June 2025

garden, plants, wildlife

You can smell the scent from almost anywhere in the garden and I am sure it has enticed the bees.  Last month I mentioned that I hadn’t seen that many bees about but I am glad to say there are loads around now!  I do try to have something in flower each month for our pollinators and there are usually flowers in abundance in June for them.  They are all over the lavender, deutzia, elder, philadelphus, weigelia, primroses, honeysuckle, syringia, hardy geraniums, erigeron, foxgloves, astrantias,  geums and some of the roses.     In fact I was watching bees going in and out from one of the holes in the raised bed wall.

a bee flying into a hole in a wall
Bee flying into the hole in the wall.

Clematis Montana is over but the large purple flowered warszawski Nike  is still in flower.

large purple clematis flowers
Clematis warszawski Nike
small orange flowers of a geum against a terracotta chimney pot.
Geums next to chimney pot.

The periwinkle, veronica  and syringia have just gone over as have the aquilegia and some of the primroses so I am in the process of cutting those back.

The ‘Generous gardener’ rose over the back arch is looking great especially beside the pink flowers and dark purple leaves of the elder.  ‘Zepharine drouhin ‘is still hanging on over the side arch – I keep saying I will just get rid of it as it has been pruned badly in the past and doesn’t look great.  ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ is looking very healthy and covered in blooms and buds as is the little pink rambling rose growing up an old post, and rose ‘Jubilee celebration’ is looking great too in the large pot.  The moss roses, ‘William Lobb’, have lots of buds on yet to open as well as ‘Munstead wood.’  They get a bit more shade than the others.

pink rose Gertrude Jekyll against a wall with patio above.
Gertrude Jekyll rose.
Dark pink rose Zephrine drouhin on an arch
Zephrine drouhin still hanging on.
Honeysuckle flower buds about to open over an arch.
Honeysuckle on the arch.
Pink and orange primula flowers next tp white philadelphus flowers
Primula and philadelphus.

I love foxgloves in the garden and I have planted out some ‘Sutton’s apricot’ this year.  I know they will be rather promiscuous with the others I have but that is ok.  Just now I have a couple that have pale pink flowers at the bottom that look very pale yellow in bud.

Pretty pink and pale yellow foxgloves against trees.
Foxgloves with pale pink flowers and pale yellow buds.

The ferns have all got going by now and are looking as fab as ever.  I have been trying to get rid of the Arisarum proboscoideum (mouse plant) in the raised bed as it is getting rather rampant and despite being sprayed half a dozen times it is still managing to grow?  It has escaped the raised bed and has got into the border and now it has popped up in amongst a geranium.

yellow green fern fronds with purple stems.
Athyrium otophorum okanum fern.
Dryopteris erythrosa orangey yellow fronds of fern.
Rosy Buckler fern.
Bright green fronds of polystichum fern against pink flowers of duetzia.
Polystichum setiferum plumosa and deutzia.

I love hardy geraniums as they can cope with almost anything and I have quite a few different varieties:’ Rozanne’, cantabrigiense ‘St Ola’, ‘Birch double’ (lilac),  cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’, Himalayense  blue , ‘Wargrave pink’,  macrorrhizum ‘Bevan’s variety’, pratense ‘Midnight Reiter’, Geranium x riversleaianum ‘Mavis Simpson’, and my newest addition is ‘Vision’ light pink (after seeing it on Gardeners world).  Some of these have other names but that just confuses everything. Here are a few of them.

very pale pink/white flowers of hardy geranium Biokovo.
Geranium cantabrigiense Biokovo.
Pink flowers on geranium wargrave pink
Hardy geranium wargrave pink.
small pink flowers on geranium maccrorrhizum Bevan's variety.
Geranium maccrorhizum Bevan’s variety.
blue flowers on large geranium Rozanne.
Geranium Rozanne.
Double lilac flowers on geranium himalayense Birch's double.
Geranium himalayense Birch’s double.

Years ago I planted a hydrangea petiolaris beyond the wall at the end on the garden, against the wire fence.  It gets very little in the way of maintenance and it has suddenly decided it likes it there and is thriving.  I am hoping to train it all the way along the fence eventually.  It might keep some of the weed seeds from the golf course out.

White flowers on climbing hydrangea petiolaris
Hydrangea petiolaris beyond the back wall.

In the conservatory I noticed a few weird looking areas on my old lady cactus.  It may be about to produce pups – why now – I have had it for many years and I don’t think I have changed anything in its care routine?

Strange marks on old lady cactus look like whorls.
Strange whorls on old lady cactus – possibly pupping?
close-up photo of strange whorls on old lady cactus.
Close-up of whorls.

A couple of ladybirds and a butterfly from today.

Orange ladybird with black spots on an achillea plant.
Ladybird on achillea.
Orange ladybird with black spots on a pale pink flower.
Ladybird on ligusticum scoticum.
Red admiral butterfly on white flower of philadelphus.
Red admiral on philadelphus.

Right now it is sunny, muggy and windy but tomorrow is meant to be very different indeed.  Rain, thunder and lightning are predicted so I have moved a few more vulnerable plants under the table just in case.

view of the garden from the patio with trees in the background.
View of the garden from the patio.
Collection of potted plants on the right side of the patio.
Right side of patio.
Left corner of patio with a small collection of potted plants.
Left corner of patio.
view of garden from patio

Colour in the garden late May 2025

garden, stumpery, wildlife

Goodness – where did April go?  I was so busy getting the seedlings and plants ready for the Duddingston Kirk Garden Sale and keeping everything watered that I forgot to blog!   It has been a mixed bag of weather but we had a little bit of rain – enough  to get the vine weevil nematodes over the whole garden, patio and conservatory (and out the front too).   However Scotland has seen the driest start to the year since 1964!  I have been watering things like mad and soon there may be a hosepipe ban so that will not be great.  The front garden just has to fend for itself but I have planted a few small plug plants and seedlings out the back so they need to be kept moist.  The poor rhododendron doesn’t like this dry weather.  Some plants have been early yet others have been a bit late but on the whole most things have come up that should have with the exception again the Gaura and a few of the Erigeron.  I took cuttings of one potted Gaura that was on the patio so I can dot them about the garden in the summer.  I sowed a few trays of seeds in the conservatory and on a windowsill but with mixed results.  Some came through brilliantly, some just two seeds  germinated from a whole packet, some didn’t germinate at all.  The compost wasn’t great as it had lumps  and sticks in it that I picked through to get most of it out but I really should have had seeding mix but everywhere was sold out.

I have noticed that all the plants that are usually covered in bees at this time of year just aren’t.  There are a few bee out there but not nearly as many as there should be.  I also noticed that there are more scarlet lily beetles about and they are now going for the fritillaries.

This year the Narcissi Segovia came up fine and was not eaten by slugs and snails as soon as they emerged from the soil.  I had potted them up on the patio instead of in the stumpery.  On the whole the very dry start to the year has meant far fewer slugs about – woohoo!

narcissi segovia small pale yellow centres
Narcissi segovia

Some of the flowers that have gone over are: the pink corydalis, most of the narscissi, Erica ‘Westwood yellow’, tulips, fritillaries,  berberis, erythronium and cherry blossom, pasque flower.

There is loads of colour in the garden with the new foliage of the astilbes, acers, veronica, , aquilegia, tree heath, honeysuckle leaves, ferns emerging, the blues and pinks of the pulmonaria and forget-me-nots, bright purple viola with green/purple leaves.  Bright yellow  alpine cinquefoil in one of the troughs along with a stonecrop. Bright yellow and green of a couple of the grasses.  The periwinkles are still flowering (white, purple and mauve varieties).  The epimedium sulfurum is just going over in the front garden as is the pink epimedium grandiflorum ‘Rose Queen’ in the raised bed in the back garden.  I only have one wood anemone left (I think one of them was dug up along with a chunk of fern that we were cutting back). ( I did try growing more from corns but they drowned.)  There is white saxifrage on one side of the stumpery and red saxifrage on the other.  We are trying to make carpets of saxifrage but something keeps digging it up!  Also flowering in the stumpery is the clematis montana growing up the garage wall. The aquilegia pop up all over the garden and they are looking great just now. The rowan has plenty flowers again this year.  We took out most of the honesty as it was taking over the stumpery.

red saxifrage, semperivivum in pot, and deep purple acer in background
Red saxifrage with purple sempervivum and acer.

We have had to put a cage around the choisya as something keeps eating it and I think it might be pigeons.  We have put a bit of a cage over the brunnera too for the same reason.  If they still get nibbled then we will know that it either slugs/snails or some other beastie that can get through the holes.

choisya plant surrounded by netting to keep birds off
Caged Choisya
3 scarlet lily beetles on fritillary plant
Scarlet lily beetles on fritillaries.

I also found some type of oak gall on my little oak seedlings.  They are actually very pretty and although they don’t usually cause much harm to the plants I took them off as the plant was so small.

oak galls caused by oak gall wasp
Oak galls on oak seedling
oak galls on oak leaves
Oak galls

The clay soil area just under the patio wall is looking ok and the astilbes will be in flower soon as will the rest of theses plants.

plants under the patio wall area
Perennials in the clay soil under the patio wall
view of garden from patio
View of garden from patio
planting in the stumpery
Stumpery one side
more planting in the stumpery
Stumpery other side

The weather is going to get cooler soon and we might even get some rain so I will have a bit more time on my hands instead of the constant watering.

garden view from the patio end of July 2024

Beginning of August 2024

flowers, slugs, snails, wildlife

We have had a mixed bag of weather over July – some rain, some sun and some overcast days but over all not too bad.  I have found more plants decimated by Spanish slugs; two artemesias in separate troughs with not a bit of greenery left, one nepeta and they are still having a go at a mint plant in a pot (they are not supposed to like these plants according to the internet).  I have put a clear plastic cloche over one artemesia to see if I can keep it alive at least.  Slugs have never gone for these in the past!  And talking about slugs (as I often do) I have been watching them by the pond and found them wandering around the water lily pads.  One Spanish slug stretched itself from a pad over the moss covered stone half submerging itself in the process.  A leopard slug spent the afternoon just lying around in a little puddle on a pad like it was at a spa.  On the patio I have found the Spanish slugs like to drink from the birdbath.  I haven’t found any other slug do that.

Spanish slug half submerged between water lily pad and moss covered stone
Slug going from lily pad to moss covered stone
leopard slug on water lily pad
Leopard slug on water lily pad
Spanish slug taking a drink from the bird's water bath.
Spanish slug having a drink from bird’s water dish.

We were so pleased when we got a large jar and did a spot of pond dipping and found a tiny eft (baby newt).  Great news so we know that we at least have a male and female about and that eggs were produced and hatched.

Eft (baby newt) in a jar when pond dipping.
Eft (baby newt)

On the wall of the raised bed I found a very pretty pinkish-brown snail. Probably a Cepaea nemoralis and they are plymorphic so you can see different colours of these.

Pinkish-brown snail
Pinkish-brown grove snail Cepaea nemoralis)

In the conservatory I came across a pretty little daisy miner fly, and a frog-hopper on the basil.  The fly had gorgeous green eyes.  My photos don’t do any of the creatures justice.

Small fly with green eyes and mottled wings
Daisy miner fly (Tripeta Zoe).
common frog hopper sitting on a basil plant stalk
Common frog-hopper

I have noticed this summer that there are not as many butterflies around.  I have spotted a few holy blues, meadow browns and orange tips but not many others.  Lots of small bumble bees around but fewer big bumble bees.  There are also fewer wasps and flies around.  Some of the plants are taking ages to get going and some are just not reaching their full potential.  Even the stephanotis in the conservatory hasn’t flowered yet – not even a bud so far.  The purple loose-strife by the pond edge is not looking quite as dense as it used to and the rogersia hasn’t flowered this year.  However there is still plenty floral colour about.  In flower now: hardy geraniums –  especially Rozanne, some roses, Japanese anemones just coming into flower now, heuchera, various persicarias, geums, golden spirea, fuchsia, some meadowsweet, oregano, erigeron, cyclamen, honey-suckle, purple loose-strife, pickerelweed, water lilies, astrantia, achilea, potentilla, lavender, woolly rock jasmine and gaura.

Hardy blue geranium Rozzane
Hardy geranium Rozzane
garden view from the patio end of July 2024
View from the patio

In the conservatory the only things in flower right now are the basil and a couple of sempervivums.  The sempervivums usually have clusters of flowers but this one has had them in a V shape.

sempervivum flowers forming a V shape
sempervivum flowers
Colourful plants in the stumpery mid May 2024.

Mid May 2024 Colour in the garden.

foliage, Uncategorized, wildlife

Hooray – the sun is finally shining and it is warm!  The plants (and weeds) are romping away.  There are lots of colourful flowers open now, the aquilegias with all their different pinks, purples and whites, and the foliage colours are just as amazing.  I do love the bronze foliage of some of the younger leaves especially some of the ferns and the rodgersia.

bronze foliage on Osmunda regalis 'Purpurascens' fern.
Osmunda regalis ‘Purpurascens’
Bronze leaves of Rodgersia podophylla
Rodgersia podophylla

There are different green and purples in some other ferns and browns in the ones with ‘hairy’ fronds.  I think the hairs are actually called scales although they don’t look like scales.

green and purple foliage of Athyrium otophorum var. okanum fern
Athyrium otophorum var. okanum
Green fronds of Asplenium scolopendrium 'Cristata'
Asplenium scolopendrium ‘Cristata’
Close croziers of Dryopteris crispa congesta fern.
Dryopteris crispa congesta
Bushy green croziers of Polystichum setiferum Cristato pinnulum fern.
Polystichum setiferum Cristato pinnulum
'Hairy' fronds of Polystichum polyblepharum fern.
Polystichum polyblepharum
Silvery and purple fronds of Athyrium niponicum 'silver falls' fern.
Athyrium niponicum ‘silver falls’

The tree heath Erica arborea is flowering it’s heart out and the bees love the tiny flowers the centre of which a purple.  It has come back very well after it got big chop in 2021. The rowan was covered in blossom last year but this year is very disappointing.  You can just about see a few clusters at the top of it in the left side of the next pic.

White and purple flowers of Erica arborea alongside the pink flowers if the Hebe Pink paradise.
Erica arborea and Hebe ‘Pink paradise’.
White flowers with purple centre of Erica arborea.
Erica arborea close up

The amazing purple (garnet) foliage  of the Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’ is looking  gorgeous just now contrasting well with the bright greens around it.  Although it looks very purple, the closer you get to it you can see a green tinge to it.

Deep garnet foliage of the Acer palmatum 'Dissectum Garnet'
Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Garnet’.

The stumpery has plenty of colour with the white primula Snowflake which has a pink tinge to it,  blue ajugas mixed in with white galium odoratus, purple honesty, pale blue forget-me-nots,  a few pulmonarias and the pale blue Veronica Gentionoides Blue streak and more dark purple foliage of the huecheras.  We have borrowed the dark foliage of next doors tree.  The lime green of the Acer shirasawanum aureum really shines.

Colourful plants in the stumpery mid May 2024.
The stumpery in mid May 2024.
Blue Ajuga reptans bugle mixed with white Galium odoratum in the stumpery.
Ajuga reptans mixed with Galium odoratum.

A few beasties that I found this month were a Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana) which looks absolutely beautiful.  The RHS says just to live with them unless they become a problem.

Purple and green shiny Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina americana).
Rosemary beetle (Chrysolina Americana).

A rather lovely white-legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).

White-legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).
White-legged snake millipede (Tachypodoiulus niger).

We are always told that slugs and snails don’t like moving over sharp objects but I have found slugs and snails going up the very sharp prickles of my moss roses.  This slug doesn’t look bothered at all.  I have found the tell-tale slime trails all over a very prickly cactus in the conservatory before too.

Slug going up prickly moss rose stem.
Slug on the very prickly moss rose stem.

And lastly for now the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis).  Apparently it wasn’t just my garden they were swarming into but even on beaches elsewhere. It isn’t a great photo. They have been quite a problem in the moorlands so I am hoping they are not going to be a problem here too.

Heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis).
Heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis).

I have seen plenty orange tip butterflies and holly blues and a few speckled wood butterflies so far.  And the usual bees, wasps and flies are around, but so far, no more wasp nests in the raised bed.  Our next-door neighbour had a lovely garden visitor the other day.  Our gardens back onto a golf course where the is a small herd of deer, and one of them got through her broken gate.  On the one hand, I would love to have them visit our garden, but on the other hand, they may cause a lot of damage.  I have no idea what plants they would eat.  It is back to chilly weather and overcast skies now.  It was nice to see the sun while it lasted.

 

oxalis palmifrons succulent plant with white flowers.

Beginning of October in the garden.

plants, wildlife

I know that I am forever going on about the weather but we have been having quite a bit of rain just now and all my small plants in small pots are waterlogged.  I have been trying to keep them under the table during the worst of the rain but then we had the strong winds so I had to turn the plastic table upside down so it wouldn’t blow away.  Then I put them under the bench with a sheet of black plastic over the bench, with large stones holding it in place, and that helped a bit.  They are still waterlogged so I really want some nice sunshine and gentle breeze to help dry them out.

I do like how the garden looks after a rain shower though and there is still plenty of colour around.  We did get a few nuts from the tortured hazel tree (corylus avellena contorta), the squirrels missed a few, and there were plenty berries on the elder (sambucus nigra ‘Black lace’).  The newly planted crab apple (malus sylvestris ‘Evereste’) has a few tiny, orange crab apples on it,  the rowan (sorbus hupehensis ‘Pink pagoda’) has loads of deep pink berries and the variegated holly ( ilex aquifolium ‘ variegata’) has a few berries too.  We trim the holly to keep it in shape so we can get past it without being jagged, but that can mean we don’t get many berries.  We tend to leave them all for the wildlife.  You can tell it is autumn by the huge number of spider’s webs about that catch the mist and look fabulous.

rowan berries with spider's web
Deep pink rowan berries with spider’s web
hazelnuts from contorted hazel tree
hazelnuts from corylus contorta (contorted hazel)

The astrantias are still looking good in pots on the patio although the dark red one is turning purple as it is going over.  The pink one is a seedling from a white variety ‘shaggy’ and it is quite a lovely pink shade.

dainty pink astrantia flowers
Dainty pink astrantia flowers.

After the rain the view from the patio is quite nice.  I don’t like the very white garage so I cropped it out, maybe one day we will get it painted  a nicer colour (except the house is also bright white so maybe not).

view of the left of the garden from the patio
View of the left of the garden from the patio.
view of the right side of garden from the patio.
View of the right side of garden from the patio.
view of the garden from the patio.
View of the garden from the patio.

In the conservatory I have planted a few purple crocus and some tiny narcissi for some colour in late winter.  My cyclamen have had their summer rest and are staring to flower now.  one in particular is in full bloom while the others have yet to catch-up.  The oxalis palmifrons is looking lovely just now.  The little bulbs were planted just a few weeks ago and they are flowering now.  I love how the flowers untwist.

Single white oxalis palmifrons flower
Single white oxalis palmifrons flower.
oxalis palmifrons succulent plant with white flowers.
Oxalis palmifrons

The small unnamed cactus has had a few fluffy buds on it for the last few months and despite food and water they have failed to open.  It did have a few that opened into fabulous large white flowers that smell divine earlier in the year but not these ones.  I will leave them on and see if they do something next year.

Fluffy buds on a small cactus.
Fluffy buds on the small cactus.

I found some damage on a couple of plants during my checking and watering of the plants.  It is good to catch things early so any diseases don’t get passed onto other plants.  One poor little lithops has damage at the base of a leaf but I don’t know if it is slug damage or perhaps there was a bit of water sitting there.  I probably don’t need to worry about that as these leaves will wither and it will produce new leaves after that.

Lithops damage caused possibly by slugs.
Lithops slug damage?

There is something on one of my Christmas cactus cuttings that I think might be botryosphaera dothidea that causes a kind of canker.  Just in case it is that I binned the plant, washed my hands, then checked all the other seedlings and plants in the conservatory.  The good news it that it was only one plant that had it.

possible botryosphaera dothidea infection on Christmas cactus
botryosphaera dothidea ? on Christmas cactus

The conservatory attracts many pollinators into it but sadly some of them can’t find their way back out again.  I have seen loads of different hover flies, bees, wasps and other insects happily buzzing around the flowers but this  male (I think) twin-spot centurion fly (Sargus bipunctatus) caught my eye with its metallic colours.  It has gorgeous metallic  green, copper and blue on its body and iridescent wings.  In the first photo I was trying to capture the colours in its wings.  The second photo it had sadly died and the wings were apart revealing the beautiful colours on its body.

Sargus bipunctaus fly iridescent wings
iridescent wings on Sargus bipunctatus.
Sargus bipunctatus metallic green, copper and blue colours on body
Metallic colours on the Sargus bipunctatus.

It is now getting colder so we are getting fewer insects in the conservatory, although it wasn’t plagued by the usual greenfly this year.  I have to remember to water more sparingly now and I still need to check the plants daily for any signs of disease.  Slugs are still coming in so I also need to check underneath the plants.