There are certain plants that are full of interest most of the year but they usually have powerful peaks. Such a plant is Clerodendrum trichotoma var fargesii, which we grow in our spring border. It is one of those plants with lots going for it and to recommend itself to us gardeners.
Our tenth visit to the wonderful Dorothy Clive Gardens saw us wandering around in cool temperatures and lightly overcast skies in late October. We expected to see autumn progressing well and a few plants flowering out of season. The sweeping driveway up to the car park was full of promises of what delights we had in store.
There were few visitors around which is typical of gardens once summer comes to an end. So many visitors to gardens think nothing goes on after September so stay away until next spring. We were there almost on our own sharing the joys of autumn at this beautiful garden with just a handful of other visitors. It is sad because there is so much to see in most good gardens in autumn and through into winter. The first few yards walk from the car park to the ticket office afforded distant views over the garden and a chance to study a newly planted border.
Views along paths among trees and shrubs were greatly enhanced by the low bright light creating bright patches and deep shadows.
The colourful Viburnum we enjoyed discovering earlier in the year caught our eyes again, its berries a more colourful mix of glossy red and black like jewels among its Persian carpet foliage.
Flowering plants keep providing interest well into the autumn and foliage plants really come into their own especially grasses and ferns.
Berries are a feature of autumn not to be missed. This year we are seeing more than usual remaining on trees and shrubs because there are fewer migrant thrushes visiting us to gorge themselves on our gardens’ bounty.
Acers of course feature strongly as it is in this season that their foliage changes by the day, and we can begin to appreciate some of the interesting colours of the bark.
It felt good to discover something totally new at the garden after visiting all year. We noticed that the gardeners and volunteers had been hard at work crafting this rustic fence from old rhododendron trunks with all their curls and bends. It is also exciting to come across a plant that we do not recognise at all so have to seek out a label and if we get lucky we can then follow up with research. This Lindera obtusiloba first attracted us to it because of its startlingly bright yellow leaves but on closer study we were struck by the unusual shape of its leaves.
Autumn is the season that belongs to trees as it becomes their turn to turn up the colours and get out their paint pallettes.
That is it for our October visit so just 2 more monthly reports of our regular wanderings around the Dorothy Clive Gardens. November will see autumn ending and giving way to winter.
Back to my garden journal and we will look at my entries for September and see what our patch here at Avocet is up to. According to the weather reporters and meteorologists we should now be in Autumn but the garden is showing few signs of the expected seasonal changes.
I started by finding patches of colourful plantings and wrote, “September is a month when gardens can begin to look a little worn and frayed at the edges. We have made a huge effort over the last 4 or 5 years to ensure we have an interesting garden all year. Let us look and see if we have succeeded in making a good September garden. Here are a few shots of colourful patches throughout the borders.”
Jude, Mrs Greenbench or The Undergardener, and I have created a talk entitled “The Year Round Garden” which we give to garden societies and other clubs such as WI groups and U3A groups. It is all about how we ensured our garden was good for every month of the year. Some of these groups also visit our garden at various times of year to have a look around. Giving these talks helps us focus on ensuring we continue to develop this ever evolving element of gardening and helps us appreciate every day and what our garden gives us on every individual day.
The three photos on these first September pages show very different patches of our garden.
Turning over the page we find a couple of my watercolour paintings of two very differently coloured and differently structured flowers blooming in our September garden, a Crocosmia and a Salvia.
I wrote “I mentioned Crocosmia “Okavango” in my August journal entries as one of our newly acquired plants. It is now between 3 and 4 feet tall and flowering beautifully.”
“The most unusual coloured flower in our September garden has to be Salvia uliginosa. Its ugly name is made up for by its beauty with strongly symmetrical flower clumps and a shade of china blue petals with darker brighter blues too.”
My next double page spread features those wonderful South African summer flowering bulbs, the Agapanthus. We have a large collection of these big blue or white spherical beauties.
“From late summer onwards through autumn and into winter, Agapanthus continue to give colour, shape, texture and architectural elegance to our “Beth Chatto Garden”. In September many are still flowering strongly but a few begin to produce their beautiful seedpods.”
Turning over to the next double page I feature two very differently coloured Mahonias and a beautiful delicate Clematis.
I wrote, “Twin Mahonias, one yellow, one red both bright and brilliant plants for later in the year.”
“Take two Mahonias”
Concerning the Clematis I wrote “I love flowers that hide some of their beauty like this Clematis. Turn it over and discover its speckles and spots of purple.”
“Turn me over!”
The next double page spread features one of my favourite hardy plant families, the Sedums. I included photos of some flowering in our garden now and a watercolour impression of our plants in flower.
“There are so many variations in foliage colour and flower size and colour We have several. Here are a few from our patch.”
Over the page we discover the first signs of the changing foliage colours – the early signs of Autumn.
“A really good garden plant has more than one period where it is a star in the borders. One shrub we grow, Ribes oderatum certainly fits this bill. We grow ours in the “Freda Garden”. In late winter it is covered in deliciously scented yellow flowers which later in the year turn into black berries. Now though it is the foliage which turns the eye as it turns from bright green to rich shades of red, from ruby to almost brown-mahogany.
Not many shrubs could boast this much foliage colour and variation before Autumn has even got going.”
Can you spot the colour co-ordinated banded snail on a leaf in the last picture of the Ribes leaf sequence?
“Dazzling Dahlias! The September show offs!”
“Spot the bee!”
Opposite the Dahlias I look at a much more delicate flower, that of Kirengeshoma palmata, otherwise known as Yellow Wax Bells.
“This is one of the most unusual looking flowers to adorn the garden this month. As the flowers drop their petals, beauty of a different sort appears.”
And that sees the end of my journal entries for September. Next visit to my garden journal will see us moving into Autumn and the changes in weather and light it brings with it. Will I be reporting on the special light and colours, the colours of fire and Autumn?
As we return to Batsford we are still wandering along the pathway that promised us views of plen1ty of unusual and beautiful trees and shrubs. Being autumn of course gives us the added benefits that it brings – yellows, oranges and reds in every shade possible. Many are on the ground at our feet so rather than just their colours we enjoyed their sounds as we scrunched through them with our boots and kicked them into the air bringing back childhood memories. Jude the Undergardener and I have frequent childhood memories which we have to relive.
Think of autumn colour and for many the first plant to spring into the mind is the massive family of Acers. Batsford has dozens of varieties both trees and shrubs.
We were drawn in by the sight of raspberry coloured seed pods shaped like arthritic old fingers. They were hanging on a Magnolia x veichii “Peter Veitch”, with its large pleated leaves.
The scent from these lovely acid yellow Mahonia reminded us of pineapples which made our mouths water!
We have a Liquidamber styraciflua “Worplesdon” in our front garden which is fastigiate so takes up little room, but this beauty would dwarf an awful lot of our other plants. The Liquidamber styraciflua here is a beautiful tree as are all Liquidamber.
There is more to this arboretum than trees and shrubs as we discovered when we came across this Japanese style building and oriental sculptures, all adding a little eastern spice.
This sculture was equally beautiful but was simply created by Mother Nature as the top of this tree had died away.
Wherever I go in the autumn and winter I keep an eye out for dried seed heads and flower heads as I enjoy their colours, shapes and textures. I managed to manoeuvre my self and my camera to photograph these against dark leafy backgrounds.
Just a few shots now to illustrate how much colour can be found around trees in this autumnal period.
The pale raspberry coloured fruit of Cornus x cousa “Norman Hadden” once ripe will be enjoyed by the local Blackbird population but they look good before they disappear.
So that is it for our visit to Batsford Arboretum for now but I feel sure we will be back.
The highlight of every autumn season has to be visiting various arboreta of which there are many within a day’s drive. Our first visit this year was to Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery situated in Derbyshire near the town with the wonderful rather eccentric name of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. The nursery specialises in rare and unusual shrubs and trees and every plant they sell is of excellent quality.
Within the first 5 minutes of our wander around the arboretum we had discovered a lovely variety of trees, shrubs and perennials. Betulas, Acers, Clethras, Euonymus and Hydrangeas.
But of course you can find little clumps of the brightest of colours, orange as in these Kniphofias.
We enjoyed close up views of fruits and flowers in between having to step backwards to appreciate the full beauty of specimen trees.
In close proximity to trees we always take a close look at textures on their bark.
Of course being autumn time we were here largely to view the colours of the season. The leaves of this Cotinus were turning red slowly beginning with splashes of colour between the veins, giving a great contrast of reds and greens. Liquidamber turn deep shades of red through the autumn and hold onto their coloured foliage until the early spring. The first leaves to turn can provide almost black shades amongst the greens.
This oak displayed foliage in the deepest orange and had the interesting name “Quercus x Warii “Chimney Sweep”.
Where autumnal colours are concerned none could be brighter than this deciduous Euonymus.
Luckily for us the nurseryman were well into a trial of new strains of Physocarpus opulifolius, those shrubs that afford us the glossy almost black foliage. At home we grow the well established “Diablo” but we were pleased to be able to study newer varieties with differeing tints of colour working amongst the black, such as “Diablo D’or” . In the next few years we will be seeing some interesting improved variations on “Diablo”.
I shall finish the first part of our visit to the Bluebell Arboretum and Nursery with a look at a few specimens of my favourite trees the Birches, grown as usual for their incredible coloured and textured trunks. These three photos show how the trunks can vary from white to black with colours in between.
We shall continue our tour of this great little and relatively young arboretum in part 2.
The penultimate visit to my garden journal for this year is here already, and I write this as November comes to a close. The strong winds of November howl around the house and roar down our chimneys. The rain has persisted for virtually every day of the month along with the strong winds.
My journal for the dreary month of November began “Our wonderful, heart warming Indian Summer lasts until the very last day of October, so we waited for the first day of November hoping for the continuation of warm, bright days. The eleventh month is usually a time of mists, fog and heavy dews.”
Jenny Joseph wrote of November, “Much of November belies the dread attached to its reputation, the shutting down, the gloom, the fog, the dark wet, the cold and the colds, autumn shrinking into winter.”
On November 1st we woke to a heavy dew, thick fog and the rest of the day was damp and dreary. The whole first week was the same. Oh dear!
Thank goodness for our garden which on the dreariest of days provided bright, colourful sparks. In every border there is a flower blooming its heart out to please us and of course any brave bees out on the wing in search of pollen and nectar.
All the photos below were taken on the same day in late November.
I next wrote about a real favourite plant of mine, a shrubby Buddleja rarely grown but oh so beautiful! Buddleja lindleyana.
“We grow an unusual Buddleja, which is still flowering this month. Buddleja lindleyana hails from china and boasts beautiful two-tone purple flowers. Racemes arch from the tip of every arching stem. Sadly it is rarely grown. I take cuttings every November to give to friends. They love it too!”
I enjoyed painting it too!
I took a couple of photos as well which you may like to see, as they illustrate the colour range found within the flowers.
On the opposite page from my Buddleja lindleyana painting I have featured another special plant again rarely grown. This one though is a tree, an Acer.
“A young Acer tree is growing in our front garden. At this time of the year its leaves turn into the colours of fire. Its leaf petioles glow red. Acer pectinatum – a very special tree!”
Turning the journal’s page over we have a mouth watering page about apples! and on the opposite page I look at our Viburnums.
“By this time of the year we have usually harvested our tree fruit and it is safely in store. This year we are still picking apples, some varieties should have been harvested by early September.”
I reveled in the chance to get out the watercolours and study two tasty and very colourful apples, Scrumptious and Red Falstaff which grow one either side of the green house door.
I moved on to consider the Viburnum shrubs putting on performances in our garden this month. “Various Viburnums give Winter interest and start their show now in mid-November. Their show is a profusion of gently coloured flowers, scent and shining red and black berries.”
More shrubs graced the next few pages too, deciduous Euonymus and a Hydrangea.
“Our deciduous Euonymus give us so many shades of pink as they metamorphose into their Autumn personas.”
At the bottom of this page beneath the Euonymus I just found room for a pic of the thistle-like Silybum maritimum.
“The teal-green and silver foliage rosette will give us these colours through the winter. In Spring flowering shoots will creep upwards full of promise.”
Another all time great of the shrub world is featured on my next page in the journal, A Hydrangea that gives us flowers that change colour, foliage that changes colour and a most unusual shaped leaf for a Hydrangea. It is Hydrangea quercifolia.
I wrote of it, “Hydrangea quercifolia is giving its all in the garden with white flowers turning pink and then finally rust. Autumn turns its leaves from bright apple green through to ruby red.”
Its name gives a clue to its leaf shape as quercifolia means simply “oak leaved”. Our specimen has an extra attribute in that in Summer on humid days it emits a sweet honeyed scent. As far as I know they are not supposed to be graced with scent of any kind let alone one so special.
My last double page spread is all about Persicarias, a really useful perennial for any garden with hints of the new perennial movement or a nod towards the Prairie style planting. We love both these styles so we grow several different ones.
“A plant that gives us great pleasure in the Autumn is the Persicaria. We grow one type for its flowers and seed heads and another for its incredibly coloured and marked foliage. Persicaria amplexicaulis have poker-like flowers in various shades of red, pink and white followed by chocolate coloured seed heads.”
“Persicaria virginata gives us wonderfully coloured and unusual marked foliage with the addition of tiny white flowers.”
So that is the November visit to my journal. Next month will see me fill up my lovely little “Moleskine” note book as my December thoughts, photos and paintings bring the journal to an end for 2015.
October was a month made special by a bright, colourful Indian Summer. It made our tenth monthly visit to the gardens at Croft Castle special. Without realising it we had chosen the week when the property were putting on a Halloween trail for the children. The trail sheet encouraged the youngsters to search for clues, so naturally we had to do the same.
The first change we noticed on this visit was how autumn had taken over the garden, with most trees changing their green cloak to one of yellow.
The first border we pass on our way to the walled garden is the long mixed border alongside the drive.
We reached the walled garden which is the best part of the grounds, wondering what changes we would find there. Even though some borders were being cleared there was plenty left to attract my camera lens, whole borders of interest …………
………… and plenty of single plants still looking full of colour.
We were amazed by the simple beauty of these Japanese Anemone flowers which had just dropped their petals.
Plants can find their own niche however inappropriate it may seem to us. This bright red poppy chose a spot close to equally blue fencing.
When we made our first of this year’s monthly visits to Croft Castle we found an unfinished insect hotel, bearing the label “unfinished project”. We looked forward to its completion each month but nothing changed, but on our October visit we noticed it was finished at last.
We didn’t expect to see much colour in the Rose Garden but we were pleasantly surprised by delicately scented Rose blooms and the supporting cast of perennials.
The veggie beds were still providing late season crops with leeks looking particularly tasty. On the old apple trees clumps of Mistletoe had found a home.
We found this extra bright colour combination which lit up the whole walled garden.
Another Halloween activity for the children was to find big pumpkins hidden around the gardens. Naturally the children in us tempted us to find them too.
As the seasons move on towards the year’s end signs of plants closing down have appeared. Seed heads are so beautiful at this time of year. They look even better if touched by the hand of Jack Frost.
Our next visit will be the penultimate visit of the year. By then the effects of autumnal weather will cover the garden.
So here we are with the tenth post in the “My Garden Journal” monthly series highlighting the changes that we see, hear and smell each month in our Shropshire garden at our home “Avocet”. Our garden open days have finished for the year and we have hosted our last visiting group for the year, so we have the garden to ourselves and our wildlife. From April to September we are open on set days and to visiting groups and although we love sharing our garden there is a feeling of letting go a bit once October arrives a sort of end of term feeling.
We will be busy taking hardwood cuttings and potting on those we struck last autumn. Our greenhouse becomes home to our more delicate plants, our Aeoniums, Salvias, and Echeverias. We put up bubble wrap as a cosy duvet for them and put the heating on gently.
My first page in my journal for October refers to the changing light the month brings.
“Autumn is most definitely with us, its special low light with its own intensity and identity gives the garden its coat of many colours. Sedum give us flowers of pink to purple rising from its succulent leaves.
“October began by continuing September’s Indian Summer. We are enjoying blue skies and warm temperatures. Luxuries for the gardeners, who can use these special moments to sit in the sun, drink tea and drink in the colourful richness in every border.”
My journal moved on to consider the changing colours which is symbolic of this season. The quote I have selected for October from Jenny Joseph also looks at October’s colours.
“The fire that October first brings to me is what has started in September. It is the woods flaming; not terrifying summer fires in some afforested countries, but the fire with no heat, no destruction. The torch that sets fire to our woods, hedges, trees in roads and gardens, blazing through cool damp darkening days is the sap withdrawing. It is a dying that can make us gasp at the intensity and great range of colour.”
In my journal I wrote “All those myriad shades of green that had been acting as foils for the colours of flowers are now coming to the fore. It is their turn to be the stars! As we move into autumn more deeply the green recedes to reveal yellows, oranges and reds. Our Euphorbia griffithii “Fireglow” glows yellow with thin red lines drawn on.”
“We grow two different varieties of Hamamelis x intermedia, Jelena and Diana, mostly for their bright late winter/early spring flowers but in autumn they give us the same orange and red colours.”
On the following pages I discuss the birds that visited our garden during October, the Merlin and the Little Owl. I hope you enjoy looking at my coloured pencil crayon drawing as much as I enjoyed creating them.
“Most of our Summer Migrant birds have left us. Firstly the Swifts and the Cuckoos left us in July and then the Warblers and the sky dancers, Swallows and House Martins.
We have been surprised to spot two birds which until recently would also have flown to warmer climes. Some of our summer visitors now stay with us. Early in October we spotted a male Merlin hunting along the lane from our house, moving and manoevring low to the ground in definite hunting mood.
Recently we heard the call of Little Owls, their piercing sounds were more those of a yapping Terrier than those of an owl.”
“In our “Secret Garden” we grow a miniature Chestnut, Aesculus mutabilis “Induta”. We forgive it for its ugly name as we love it all year. It gives salmon-pink new foliage in the spring which is followed by upright panicles of pinky-salmon flowers loved by the bees. Flowers are followed by little “conkers”, then in autumn the foliage turns the brightest yellow. When the foliage falls beautiful silvery-grey bark shines through the winter.”
“I featured the seed heads of Phlomis and Acer rufinerve in my journal pages for September. As we move through October more plants produce seed heads worthy of starring roles. Echinops, Eremurus, Eryngium and Crocosmia.”
November will take us deeper into the autumn which this year is proving to be an exceptionally colourful one.
The September pages of my garden journal sees the first signs of autumn creeping in, colours changing, light creeping in at a lower level and our summer migrant birdlife disappearing. The skies are empty and quiet now that the Swallows and Martins have left us for warmer climes. We are missing the sight and sounds of Warblers flitting among the trees and shrubs but hopefully some Garden Warblers and Chiffchaffs will decide to stay with us. Climate change seems to be encouraging more migrants to remain in the UK all year through.
Being a British gardener I start by talking about the weather! “The “Met Office” weathermen tell us that September is the first month of Autumn, but we hope it will be the continuation of Summer. This year September is unlike Summer, and is not even an Indian Summer. It is a dismal month of heavy skies and rain. Every flower that fights its way through the gloom is a ray of sunshine.”
Next comes my usual piece of writing from Jenny Joseph’s little book, “Lead by the Nose”.
For September, it is harvesting and clearing what is there on the one hand, with a great deal of sharp acrid savoury smells from dead-heading, disentangling, weeding, cutting down leaf and stalk, digging up roots.”
I move on to consider a special group of plants which Jude and I love in our garden, the airy, whispy plants that can’t help but move in the gentlest of breezes, the “Windcatchers”.
“September has been a windy month, which has accentuated the part played by the “Windcatchers”, those special plants which display the ability to catch the slightest breeze and dance in it. These are the tall grasses, Stipa gigantea, Miscanthus sinensis and the Molinias and Calamagrostis, the airy flowering perennials especially Verbena bonariensis and Gaura lindheimeri. Gauras have variety names that suggest their windcatching skills, “Whirling Butterflies” and “Summer Breeze”.
The photos below show what a beautiful plant Verbena bonariensis is with its bright purple flower heads nodding in the breeze atop its stiff thin stems. It is a true wildlife magnet too attracting Butterflies and Moths, Bees and Hoverflies and many other flying insects. As the light fades in the evening the flowers glow and their scent intensifies to attract night flying insects and a miriad of Moths.
The movement of grasses and their big cousins the Bamboos also adds sounds to our garden, rustling, tinkling and sounds like those of the seashore, shifting sands, rolling pebbles and retreating waves.”
Grasses are such an important element in our garden and help create an all year round garden. From their fresh green leaves emerging in the spring right through to their flowers and on to their seedheads which stand right through the winter.
Surprises are the subject of my next page.
“Surprises are always fun in the garden, those little things not planned for or expected. Here are two surprises for September in our garden.
We were pleasantly surprised at the rich autumnal colours of our Euphorbia griffithii “Dixter” which grows in our Beth Chatto garden, and how this damaged Verbascum repaired itself.”
My watercolour paintings of Acer rufinerve and Phlomis russeliana feature on the next page titled “Seedpods for September”. These seeds are capsules of promise, time capsules. The wing-like Acer seeds are shaped and moulded to allow a gentle descent in the wind, each maple key parachuting down to find a place to germinate. The pompom seedheads of the Phlomis are tightly packed balls of rough textured seeds designed to stick to any passing creature who will wander off and drop it away from the parent plant where it can find space to become a herbaceous plant with hairy heart shaped leaves and yellow-orange balls of flowers.
We now move on to the end of the month when the weather surprised us as it changed for the better, change to good gardening weather and good weather for appreciating gardens.
“As the month came to its end we were suddenly treated to an “Indian Summer”. The skies were clearest blue, the sun shone and temperatures went back up. The garden loved it as much as the gardeners! Our two varieties of Schizostylus, “The Major” and “Alba”are flowering better than ever before.”
“Two real stars of the autumn garden are our two Salvias that are too tender for us to leave out over our winters, so we grow them in pots and bring them indoors as soon as the cold nights appear. They are Salvia “Amistad” with its bright purple and black flowers and Salvia confertiflora with its long spikes of red and salmon flowers.”
So that is my journal all about our garden in September. I am already writing and painting my entry for October so that will be the next episode of “My Garden Journal”.
So here we are with the ninth post in my series about Croft Castle gardens throughout the year, where I shall report on our September visit to this Herefordshire National Trust property.
The long border was sparkling with colour in the sunlight. The sun was beginning to sit lower in the sky so whites looked as wonderful as bright colours. Cyclamen shone jewel-like in the shadow of the ancient trees. Grasses glistened!
Once inside the walled garden we immediately noticed how large areas of colour were absent but plant partnerships in twos and threes gave brightness throughout.
Sweetpeas are always a delight but to see these beauties this late in the season really pleased the eye. And of course the nose!
This rich blue colour surprised us when we had a close and realised these gems were not flowers at all but berries. This grass like plant with the blue berries is a Dianella, a plant we have been trying to get established on our gravel garden for a few seasons now. Seeing how special they can be made us more determined to get it right.
Fuschias are not a favourite of our’s but within these walls we enjoyed the simple small flowers of the more natural varieties.
The diminuitive flowers of this Fuschia had blooms less than a centimetre long but its beauty was in the detail.
I love rich deep colours in the garden but they seem especially intense in the early autumn months, so I was attracted by these Dahlias and our favourite Verbena bonariensis.
In the entrance to the glasshouses the climbing Cobaea was in full bloom and the plant covered a huge area. Close-up we could appreciate its complexity and incredible beauty. The tomatoes growing in the glasshouse were looking as late to develop as our own, but their Chrysanths were already in flower whereas ours are just budding up.
The Secret Garden sparkled in the sunshine with every leaf and petal catching the light.
For bright cheerfulness in the autumn garden you can’t beat the Rudbeckias.
As we made our way back to the car after our most enjoyable garden wanderings two signs of autumn caught our eye, the deep pink of the Sedum flower heads and the colour appearing on the clump of mature trees close to the main gate out of the garden. Next visit will be sometime in October when we expect to see autumn taking over the borders and clumps of trees.
A Vegetarian | Nature Lifestyle Blog
.....and nurturing my soul
Journeys In St. Louis Gardening and Beyond
Consult the genius of the place
A blog full of humorous and poignant observations.
Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
...an emerging social science
'The most important and informative publication on wildlife of our times' - The Independent. This blog is a member of The UK & Ireland Natural History Bloggers group: www.uknhb.blogspot.com
Inspire - Cultivate - Grow Native Plants - Restore Landscapes
To create and protect a semi-natural wild space for the people of Farnham to enjoy and experience an array of British wildlife in our town
The www.gardeningwithchildren.co.uk Blog
birding through the seasons, why birds matter and how to conserve them
with a camera in hand
Transform your outdoor space
My allotment, cooking and other interests
my gardening life through the year
Trying to live a creative life
trying to live as lightly as possible on our beautiful planet
Nature lovers from Leicester living the good life.
Finding the beautiful in the everyday
Michelle's Allotment
thoughts from and about my garden
Big plans for a small garden
A Walled Country Garden in South East Scotland
Life at the fruity chicken
Off grid living. Self sufficient. "PERMAGANICS RULE".
Nottingham's Grade 2* Listed Allotments and Community Orchard
a journey in suburban vegetable gardening
The madness of growing your own
A novel approach to vegetable gardening
Sustainable living in the Irish countryside.
Master Gardener, amateur photographer, quilter, NH native, and sometimes SC snowbird
Recent work and work in progress and anything else that interests me
a chaotic cottage gardener
a weekly blog that creates a personal philosophy through photographs and words
Stories from a sassy and classy Southern farmbelle.
Simple Organic Gardening & Seasonal Living
turning dirt into dinner
today the world is created anew
Notes from a Devon garden
Life Through The Lens
A photography blog showcasing the best photography pictures and videos on the internet
Just another WordPress.com site
personal observations from the natural world as the search continues for a new approach to conservation.
The Wonders of Life through my Eyes, my Heart, my Soul
greenbenchramblings 