Sunday, October 12, 2014

Misty Morning

This morning we woke up to one of those damp, misty starts of the day when there is a slight chill in the air but not enough chill to stop me popping out into the garden with my camera to see what I could find.

There were two blackbirds on top of the tree until I decided to take a photo by the time I'd got my camera switched on one had fluttered away.


At the top of the garden I could see the sun was just beginning to peep through the trees behind the shed.

  I just spotted the silken thread of the spider's web just in time.  It was strung all the way between the plum tree and the tamarisk tree for all the world like a fairy washing line. 

We still have colour in the garden - mostly pinks with the Valerian above bought here and raised from one seedpod taken from a plant at the side of the road in Abersoch on the Llyn Peninsula in Wales.  Paul calls it 'the Welsh weed' but I like it anyway.

We had to cut this clematis back in the spring as it had grown into such a tangle with itself and a honeysuckle but it is now flourishing again and is making up for its bad start this year by flowering more than it ever has done before.

The clematis was bought a few years ago from Hodnet gardens, just over the county border in Shropshire, along with the honeysuckle it had twisted itself around. Unfortunately it looks as if the strangulated honeysuckle isn't going to survive as it looks very bare and woody at the moment and has remained so all summer.  Perhaps it may come back next year?  We'll see.

When we bought the pumpkin plant from a nearby garden centre it looked as if it was going to be more orange in colour than this and larger too.  Maybe it is the lack of rain through the summer that has held it back.  We've lodged it onto the top of an upside down plant pot as it was growing out over the strawberries so we'll see how much bigger it gets before the end of the month.  A few years ago we managed to grow pumpkins to carve for Halloween but I think we'll have to buy one this year.


We still have loads of nasturtiums giving a dab or two of brightness in the corner of the garden

and the yellow rose which is always the first rose to flower in June is also always the last to flower in October.

You can see the rose in the bottom right hand corner of the photo above just below the tulip tree which is shedding its yellow and orange leaves all over the garden.

 The hydrangeas are fading beautifully this year.  I just love the colours and textures of them.  They've been a joy all summer just outside the conservatory window and they still are.

By the time I'd taken the photos and done a spot of ironing the mist had lifted and the sun was sparkling and casting shadows across the garden.

Before lunch we walked down towards Fenton Park looking back in the distance you can see the tower of the church of St James the Less which overlooks to town of Longton.  Beside it the bottle ovens at the Gladstone Pottery Museum.  As an aside the powers that be have decided that the museum should close a couple of days a week to save money.  They decided one of those days should be a Sunday!  Now they wonder why their visitor figures are down by 45%! Here's a  link to an article in local paper. Sunday is surely the one day when whole families can visit the museum or any museum come to that.  Sometimes I despair.  Anyway back to our walk.....

The trees in the park were looking wonderful with crunchy leaves strewn around

There were a few people out and about walking dogs, sitting on benches chatting together in what was now quite warm sunshine.

 There were shouts and cheers from a nearby football match on the pitches at the end of the park

It was time to go home for lunch - cabbage, potato and swede soup - sounds odd but it was quite tasty - with Paul's homemade bread.  The vegetables were left from last week's vegetable box purchase (see my previous post).

Now I've written this I'm going to settle down with a good book.  Enjoy what's left of the weekend.

24 comments:

  1. Our best museum in Sheffield is not open on a Saturday!!!! It drives me insane! I'm with you all the way on that Rosie. Your garden is still looking colourfull. I too have Valerian - self seeded from a neighbours garden. My mum calls it a weed, but it reminds me of Cornwall! I think your soup sounds lovely - and full of goodness! It has turned chillier this weekend - perfect for soup xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have one close on Saturdays too - Ford Green Hall - it has done for a few years now ever since it became a wedding venue. I love the Valerian and like you it reminds me of seaside lanes and quaint stone town walls, it grows in the most unlikely places:)

      Delete
  2. Lovely post Rosie. Good to see you have so much colour still in your garden. I always associate pink with summer in my garden but even so the pink and white Cosmos are still going strong.

    The soup sounds very warming and hearty.

    Jeanne
    x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jeanne - pink is very summery so I guess those flowers are the swan song of summer:)

      Delete
  3. A gracious gentle Sunday! How lovely to note that your yellow rose is the first and last to bloom in the garden each year. Your garden is still looking good with plenty of flowers. Enjoy your book! x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a rather lovely Sunday. I always look forward to that first yellow rose:)

      Delete
  4. I often think I should have my camera aroung my neck all of the time. lol. then I wouldn't miss any good shots.
    Briony
    x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello and welcome - I always see something worth photographing when I've left my camera at home:)

      Delete
  5. Stunning photos Rosie. The times I've spotted a good shot in the garden of a bird or squirrel to find they got away before I clicked the camera! So frustrating. P x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Patricia, I usually end up with duck tails up in the water or the blurred flash of a squirrels tail - sometimes they do stay long enough to get a half decent shot:)

      Delete
  6. Beautiful photos and a lovely post. You just wonder what planet some of our decision makers live on - shut on a Sunday, how daft is that ??? Elizabeth xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Elizabeth - it's like going back to when I was a child and most things were closed on a Sunday:)

      Delete
  7. I was going to tell you about the Sheffield museum but Diane got in first! I've still never been to it because it's closed on Saturdays.
    You have a lovely garden. I also have a completely overgrown clematis that I need to be brave and hack back a long way. You've given me courage to do it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Saturday does seem a silly day to close when people are out and about in towns shopping and looking for other things to do. Autumn is the best time to cut back clematis - according to Monty Don on Gardeners World when he cut back his in Spring! Still it gave us the courage to chop ours back as it had completely taken over a corner of the garden and was imprenetrable. Good luck with yours:)

      Delete
  8. It was a lovely day yesterday wasn't it. And no wind - it would have been a lovely day for a walk, but we had washing etc to do so stayed home all day. I can't believe the museum closes on Sundays! I could understand a couple of days in the week, but surely Sunday is a busier day?! Your garden is still looking good!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Louise, yes it was a lovely day - shame you couldn't get out but it was also a good day for getting washing dry too. I just wondered if they chose a Sunday because they get lots of school parties in the week and would lose some sort of funding of educational kind if they closed two weekdays? I've no idea really but it does seem strange:)

      Delete
  9. Loved the photo of the blackbird in the tree. How lovely your garden is!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Janet - I rather like the blackbird too - quite atmospheric:)

      Delete
  10. It sounds like a lovely day out! Your garden has so many nice things still growing, and it looks as though your clematis is doing really well, I hope that next year the honeysuckle will do well again. It is a shame about the museum being shut on a Sunday, it does seem like an odd day to choose, but if they are staffed by volunteers, I know that it is hard to get people to come in at the weekends so I wonder if that is a factor. I hope that they can open it again more in the future perhaps. Hope you have a good week. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Amy! Yes, there are a lot of volunteers so perhaps that may be the reason or one of them - I also wondered about their school visits if they closed on two weekdays as they have, or used to have, lots of those:)

      Delete
  11. Replies
    1. Thank you Linda - welcome to my blog - glad you visited and enjoyed the photos:)

      Delete
  12. A very laid back post Rosie - your garden is looking lovely - not much colour left in mine now. How lucky you are to have that lovely park nearby - love the view of the buildings with the drifting smoke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Elaine - the garden is looking very windswept today, but it is still so mild that the cats our out and about enjoying it:)

      Delete