Friday 31 October 2014

Autumn

You can always tell what season of the year it is from the fruit that tops my bowl of breakfast porridge. Yesterday I finished picking autumn raspberries and took the net down from the fruit cage. Sadly, this morning at breakfast none of the food was home grown.



As ever, the gardening year has been a mixture of success and failure.
The leeks that looked so promising a short while ago have started to bolt. How annoying, I usually rely on them as a prolific and well-behaved crop.
The seed heads look rather pretty, but that's not the point!
I've picked some to put in the house.

The brassica bed is another hit and miss affair; sprouts only middling, lots of caterpillar damage on the primo cabbage and the red cabbage a disaster!
But there is a new crop of mange tout to enjoy while the mild weather continues.
The garden looks bedraggled and our main activity at the moment is leaf sweeping. There's colour to be found



but the flowers can be appreciated more easily when brought inside away from the wind.


Some of the auriculas are giving a second flush of flower.


It's jam-packed in the greenhouse
with seedlings and cuttings for next spring
and anything else that might benefit from a bit of cover.
My friend Molly lost her battle with leukaemia and last Friday I went to her funeral. She was a great gardener and we had many good times together, weekends away exploring gardens in differing parts of the country. We liked the same things and often shared a purchase, choosing plants that looked promising for division. We thought that we were being very economical but of course it was just an excuse to buy more than our conscience would otherwise allow! In typical character she planned her funeral in every detail. We were to wear bright colours and bring pink roses. I picked a bouquet from the garden because I know that she would have appreciated that the most, flowers whose names she would know, some that she would have remembered from our various jaunts. I added rosemary and rue. 
In each season of the year I have flowers in my garden that will remind me of Molly.
Her service ended with  a track of Frank Sinatra singing, 'fly me to the moon' so here is tonight's moon with pink roses for Molly 

15 comments:

  1. It is devastating to lose a friend as you had in Molly, my condolences to you and her family. Your flowers are a lovely tribute to her.

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  2. What a lovely tribute to your friend Molly.
    I adore all the lovely arrangements you have made from your very outstanding garden.
    I live in the Arizona Sonoran Desert, a very green one but not the same type of green you have. I
    love the "English" Garden.
    You live in a beautiful place.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. An English garden comes with a great deal of rain - so enjoy your green desert!
      Glad thehamish is back on form.

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  3. I love your indoor floral displays Rosemary. Always so imaginative.

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    1. It always surprises me what can be gathered from a very scruffy garden.

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  4. So sad that you lost your friend Molly. I send you a big hug.
    Your garden is still full of color and I love the photos. Have a lovely evening.
    Alex

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    1. Thank you for the hug, Alex. The garden is looking a mess now that rain and colder temperatures have arrived, just bits of colour here and there.

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  5. Very sad to lose a good gardening friend. Your ways of honoring her are inspiring however -- thanks for sharing the story of your friendship with us. -Beth

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    1. All my memories of Molly are happy, we spent many happy times together wandering around beautiful gardens.

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  6. Your garden is fantastic! So many layers of goodness growing here! I am so sorry to hear of your friends passing. I can tell just by this post how amazing she was. Sending you my thoughts during this time. I am so glad you popped by my blog. I look forward to journeying along with you! Nicole

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    1. I'm following your blog with interest, Nicole. (I've now got some chicken wire at the ready for when I plant the tulip bulbs!)

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  7. A beautiful bouquet of roses - it is always sad to lose a gardening friend - they are few and far between, good ones anyway. Considering the time of year you still have plenty going on - like you there has been good and middling in the garden - but on the whole a good gardening year with some lovely weather to accompany us on our gardening activities.

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    1. None of my remaining friends are quite such enthusiastic or knowledgable gardeners as Molly was and I shall certainly miss her.
      Every gardening year brings a slightly different pattern - feast or famine in the veg plot. But I'm already thinking about what I might grow next year - we gardeners are generally an optimistic bunch!

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  8. Here's to Molly!

    As to leeks, shame-facedly, mine always bolt -- now I've an overabundance of leek seed...

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