Seedtime and Harvest

I was wandering around the garden today, so sad to see things changing but I am so happy for the cooler weather. Some of the flowers are already in seed. I will leave them for the birds. I should take a few to plant next year but the birds will need them more than I will.
This one is so beautiful I just had to take some pictures.These are so beautiful. They were beautiful flowers too. I don't know the name but will post it as soon as I do.




This is the flower and the seeds are just as lovely.



Then we have the Bee Balm, it's also amazing and will be left for the birds.




Such a lovely flower, it really livens up the garden and it spreads. I love that.




Even the trees have great seeds. These can become rather a pain but right now they are beautiful.



The Day lily has an interesting seed pod


The money plant........how sweet is that. Wish it really was coinage.




This little beauty is the pod from the Clematis vine. Isnt she pretty?

English Robins.........

Of all the lovely English birds I miss the Robin the most. Has everyone seen "The Secret Garden"?
Its a beautiful movie and if you have not seen it then you have missed something lovely. Especially if you love gardens.
Well the Robin is a friendly and cheeky bird. Sassy and cute he will befriend a gardener and hang out with him while he is digging in hopes of a worm or grub. A gardeners friend.

The Robin has long decorated Christmas cards. Even here in the States I often see English Robins on cards. The American Robin is a big lanky thing and would be a beautiful bird if it was not a Robin. There is only one cute Robin and that is not it. So when you see this chipper little bird on a Christmas card, just know that is a real English Robin

Cardinal Family......................

I am linking this to mosaic monday

For several years now we have had success with the Cardinal population. Prior to that it seems a certain black and white cat was responsible for eating a great many of them. So say my neighbours. Those same neighbours were loading up their beebee guns. Well that said cat started to hang out in my garden. We had no clue who she belonged to and she was scrawny and pregnant. We fed her, not a good way of making her move on. I didn't want her having kittens under my deck so with my granddaughter begging me and making lots of promises I took her in. We had her spayed, I asked the vet how he felt about that first as she was not far along. He said better now than to have to destroy kittens later and so we made that horrible choice. The cat came to live with us (her name is Boots) and the Cardinals thrived.





This is another collage of flowers and bees doing their work. Fall will be here soon. We need to keep these little critters happy, the bees do not have it so good these days. Honey bees are getting to be rare. We need to do our part and not use pesticides or anything that will harm them. Life is a circle and what effects one beast will effect us all.




This next collage is all about berries. Berries in your garden will bring in the birds for winter feeding. It helps those who migrate and those who stay. I have allowed the berries of the deadly nigtshade to flourish because the birds love them. Just keep your kids away, they really are deadly.

Garlic Chives.............

I love this flower. All my chives have purple flowers and this one has only just bloomed. It is so pretty. It's a perennial and I so hope it will survive. This is it's second year and I don't believe it bloomed last year. Anyway. I just had to show everyone this beauty.



I have several bunches of regular chives throughout the garden because I love the flowers. Its about the only herb I remember to gather too. Love them on baked potatoes with butter and sour cream/



Next year I am going to get some more of those Garlic chives for sure. Apparently you can use the flowers and they would look great in a green salad.

The Autumn
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning



Go, sit upon the lofty hill,
And turn your eyes around,
Where waving woods and waters wild
Do hymn an autumn sound.
The summer sun is faint on them --
The summer flowers depart --
Sit still -- as all transform'd to stone,
Except your musing heart.

How there you sat in summer-time,
May yet be in your mind;
And how you heard the green woods sing
Beneath the freshening wind.
Though the same wind now blows around,
You would its blast recall;
For every breath that stirs the trees,
Doth cause a leaf to fall

Fish Pond.

We really enjoy the small pond that we have in the back garden. Its a challenge though. We started 3 years ago. The first winter we brought in all surviving fish and put them in a big tank. They did very well and grew over the winter. Come Spring they went back outside and did well all summer. Then we had a visitor and fish kept disappearing. We had a couple of misshaps with the pump. That's a long story but to make it short we unintentionally emptied the pond a couple of times. Lucky the fish had an inch or so and survived. All those fish had names so we were not happy to loose anyone. That winter we left them in the pond. Got a water heater that would just stop it from freezing to the bottom. The fish made it through with flying colours. Then just as we thought we had it all down pat, someone ate the fish. My fish that had names. I was really pissed off. So now we were down to just a couple, I bought more fish. They all died. Bought more and they died. Then we realized that the water has floride in it and I had forgotten to put in the stuff that neutralizes it. This year we have two fish left. They are happy fish and are doing very well. We have made hiding places in the pond for them, they can get away from cats or racoons that may fancy a snack.

These are the two survivors.



These two have grown over this summer and should be able to make it through the winter OK. If they do survive this winter they will just get bigger. I wont get them any new fish because I dont want to introduce any disease. I want to try to keep them healthy.



The pond is 3' in the middle but not too big around. Bigger than it look here though.

My Poodles.

I can't do a post on my garden without showing my girls. Currently I have 4 poodles and I will introduce them to you here.







This is in way of explaining the state of my grass.............these girls really do a number on it.

Garden Poem by Patience Strong.....

In a garden green and gay
All my troubles fade away
Sweet contentment here I find
Joy of heart and peace of mind.

Other Gardens....

I have noticed that other people who blog about gardens have big gardens. At least the ones I have seen. They are properly landscaped and the people must spend a real lot of time out there. Me? well I just have a back yard and front yard and even though the trees are mature, I don't have the time to spend on maintaining a great garden. I just want one. I get it looking good and the kids come along and well........you know how it is with kids. Yesterday Lydia and Tobin in cahoots with Reina went out to play. Well I guess they must have been bug hunting because the rocks on the rock garden were now in the play area. Hmmmmmmm! How did I guess what they had been doing? Had they replaced the rocks I never would have know. Then I opened the seat on the little trike that Reina had been playing with to find it stuffed with leaves from my HOSTA'S!!!!!! Acck!!!!!!
So its really a uphill battle most of the time. Just picking up the toys they leave around is a chore but I want them to enjoy my garden and remember it. Maybe its just me? I remember my Dad's and my grandmother's gardens with fondness. I remember every detail about Nan's garden from the seat Granddad made from sticks (before that was popular) and the wonderful plum tree. My dad had an apple tree and the apples were never on there long enough to get ripe. So good, and my first pet is buried under that tree. I wonder if anyone will ever know? My parents being long gone from this world.
I even remember my other granddad's garden. His was a working garden back when they relied on it for food. He kept rabbits, at the time I did not know their fate. Next door my uncle Bill kept chickens and I have always had a fondness for the smell of chicken feed. I loved to help him collect eggs. There was also a huge patch of rhubarb that I could hide in. He had an orchard. I suppose he must have been quite self sufficient back in those days.
So, back to my garden. I am trying to make it interesting and child friendly. We divided it up into rooms. The very back was my shade garden and now its got wood chips and a play house with ivy under the trees.
I have pathways through the gardens to help divide it up and put two arches with swings under them for Lydia and Tobin back when I babysat for them. Now Tristen and Reina enjoy them.
I put fountains, again so the kids enjoy them. If only they would keep their hands out (smile) and not come in muddy all the time.



Did I mention the 4 poodles we have..............well, that's another thing. Back when we had Bridget (poodle) I made poodle paths among the flowers so she could visit her many admirers. I just took those out as the poodles we have now are not social butterfly's as she was. I am in process of making a patio with those but need a few more stones. Its by the fish pond. That's another story.



So anyway suffice it to say my garden will always be a work in progress. I love reading blogs to get ideas but I know my garden will never look as they do. I must be happy with that.

Some of My Favourite Flowers.................

I really love Violets. When I was a child my friend Sylvia and me would go hunting for the first violets. I dont know why they were such a big deal to us but I never imagined the thrill of finding those first little buds. I was born and raised in England and we kids could run wild. Our parents didn't have to worry about us at all. We would walk for miles over the fields and not think of any danger. There really was none. Anyway, I digress........first sign of spring and off we would go on the hunt for the first violets. We knew every spot that they grew. Finding new spots was a thrill. I knew the countryside around my home for miles like the back of my hand. Much as my dad and all generations before had done. So I guess apart from their beauty, I love the memories.



Bluebells, well that's the name of the blog so you may imagine that they are among my very favourite flower. Again its the memories. In the Springtime the trees are just beginning to foliate and are a delicious lime green. The floor of the woods are blue with flowers like a brilliant carpet laid out to take your breath away.
My Uncle Harold shared this love and would write poems. He knew I loved them too and would send pictures when he could to remind me of home. He lived on the Isle of White and to go to the village shops he would walk through Bluebell woods.