Belated bulbs

I'm still planting bulbs.  A lot of those removed from last year's summer pots - the ones that still looked in reasonable condition - have gone in the bottom of the veg patch, next to the place where next door's lily of the valley has spread under the wall.  I'm not expecting great things, and the plan (at the moment) is to dig them up and throw them away next summer, but it's worth a try.  I've given them some bonemeal each in the hope of giving them a kickstart.  Down there are the remnants of 'Jan Reus' and 'Veronique Sanson', at the back by the wall; in front are a couple of the yellow tulips rescued from under the dining room window and 'Purple Jacket'; in front of that are 'Cairo' and 'Antraciet' on the right and some more yellow tulips on the left.

Meanwhile I've managed to get the alliums ('Purple Sensation', 'Purple Rain' and unifolium) into the bottom border under the ash tree, along with tulip 'Menton'.  This is a stonking great late pink tulip which I first saw in a garden nearby; it's supposed to be good at resisting the elements, which will be a useful attribute in this garden.  I'm gradually getting the other new bulbs (and some saved from last year) into their winter homes; some more 'Cairo' have gone into a pot with crocus 'Gipsy Girl' and some wallflower 'Sunset Red', while the Tete-a-tete daffodils have gone into the windowbox as usual, with blue violas and crocus 'Blue Pearl', and a small Carex testacea to provide some structure.  Further planting has been frustrated by the weather; we've had a couple of bright, sunny half-days but otherwise it's mostly damp or wet, with wind.  Today we've had gales; the village Christmas tree was going up this lunchtime and it will be interesting to see tomorrow whether it's still upright!

Yellow chrysanths, wallflowers and winter jasmine

It's still mild for this time of year, though.  The hellebore, and its offspring in the front garden, is getting into its flowering stride; some 'Sunset Red' wallflowers that were never potted up last winter and are still where they were sown are coming nicely into flower, the chrysanthemums are still going and there are odd flowers on the Centaurea montana, pinks, cistus and a Welsh poppy. The birds still come for their crumbs, seeds and water, and the blackbirds are still enjoying the occasional apple, but there's no sense of urgency in their feeding - plenty of wild food still around, I suspect.