"When the wind of change blows......

some people build walls and some people build windmills"

Chinese proverb


With the summer rapidly coming to a close the emphasis in the garden is tidying and making good.  Work started a few weeks ago in creating a new wildlife friendly border at the back of the garden against the wall.  The group has found enough plants from cutting and splitting others to fill the new border. Wildlife moved in quickly and a slow-worm was seen recently basking on the warm soil.

The tall echiums have done their job and once the bees had stopped feeding on the delicate blue flowers they were taken down before they fell.  The stems proved to be very difficult to deal with.  Eventually a bow saw was used to cut them up into manageable lengths.  They are very prickly so gloves are essential when handling these plants!

Tidying pots and compost bags often reveals some spectacular spiders.

Wood louse eating spider- they bite!

Looking frightening but quite harmless!

There is still a lot of colour in the garden which continues to attract bees and butterflies

Campanula

Aster

Sedum

Sedum

 

The Common Carder Bee is one of the few bees still on the wing.

Red Admiral butterflies have been arriving on the South coast from Europe over the past few weeks.  Often they are in pristine condition but this one looks like it has had a close brush with a bird as a beak sized chunk is missing from the wing

Red Admiral feeding on the Aster flowers

The 'paper-bark' Silver Birch trees are at their best now. A gentle pruning of the lower branches was required to keep the trees well balanced and looking good

The spectacular peeling bark

The freshly pruned tree

The birch tree catkins

 

Our Tetrapanax tree is reaching for the sky!

The attractive flowers on the Tetrapanax

We have been kindly given a second Tetrapanax tree which has been planted nearby to help create an even more Jurassic feel about the lower end of the garden.

The newly planted Tetrapanax

The chain ferns are at their best now and close inspection of the fronds reveals where why they are called as such!

Autumn is here and the trees are responding.  The sycamore leaves are turning brown and the 'helicopter' seeds are falling all over the garden. The leaves on the Ginkgo tree are slowly  turning.

The Ginkgo getting ready for the winter shutdown!

The next large job in the garden involves the pond which needs a lot of attention and thinning out.  The water lilies are taking over reducing open water for the water boatmen and pond skaters. Hopefully a few dry weekends will help the job along!