Duck or grouse

The entrance to the corner of the garden known as The Dump (where reside the compost bins and other things that are better not seen) is between the thicket of young damson trees - probably suckers from the plum tree rootstock - and a stout post which once supported a trellis.  The post is a bit redundant now - the trellis is long gone and the necessary cover is now provided by a rampant honeysuckle - but for a while it was also supporting the trunk of one of the damsons that was leaning across the entrance.  Recently the trunk has slipped down off this support, however, and it seems to be getting lower and lower; I now have to duck to be sure of getting through without hitting my head on it.  A saw will be called for in the New Year; and I can do some coppicing of the hazels in that corner while I'm at it.

The weather has reverted to type for this time of year, although milder than usual: much cloud, some fog, mostly dank.  There have been too many non-gardening things to do recently anyway for me to do a lot out there.  The holly berries have all gone from the tree; there are still some cotoneaster berries for the birds, and they are still enjoying the windfall apples (lots still on the tree, attracting two mistle thrushes as well as the fieldfares, and the pheasants are quite partial to them too).  The fat balls have been visited by a number of blue and great tits, and a family of long-tailed tits stopped by one day too.  A song thrush has been about as well.

Autumn leaves, winter jasmine, spring primroses!

The winter shrubs are mostly doing well, although there's not much sign of flowers on the winter honeysuckle this year.  The young Mahonia 'Winter Sun' is looking good; it's the first year it has done much.  The winter jasmine is still providing cut stems for the house; and the primroses underneath are also in flower, a promise of spring to come!

Mahonia x media 'Winter Sun'

And some colour for the porch

Welcome winter

Another lovely sunset

It has to be said that November is not usually the best month, weather-wise, round here.  All too often it is either wet and windy, or unremittingly damp, foggy and dreary, or a mix of both.  This year it has been mostly dry, clear and cold with only short spells of rain and remarkably little wind.  The start of this past week saw stormy and wet weather for a couple of days, followed by three days and nights of perfect winter weather: cold, bright and sunny (during the day) and frosty at night.  Today was the start of another cloudier, milder spell; I hope the settled weather returns for a nice wintry December!

Sun on autumn leaves

The clear weather has given us some lovely sunsets, and warm-coloured late afternoon sun on the last of the autumn leaves.  The cold, though, has brought the blackbirds and fieldfares into the holly tree in search of the berries.  There are still quite a few on the lower branches, although their numbers are dwindling, so a good bucketful has been cut and put safely in the greenhouse for Christmas.  The greenhouse is also filling up with the half-hardies, the doubtfully-hardy and anything else that I think needs a bit of protection; the dahlias have been lifted and are drying off in there, and the grow-bags are (slowly) germinating some salad leaves for the late winter.  To make room for all of this, the sweet peas, which have started to germinate, have been put in the cold frame with pots of herbs.

Still some berries on the holly tree ...

... and some in the greenhouse

Most of the tulips have now been potted up.  The biggest pot on the patio has four varieties - 'Burnt Sugar', 'Ronaldo', 'Belle Epoque' and 'Bruine Wimpel'; I dug up the big purple Heuchera 'The Prince' (to the delight of our friendliest robin), split it, and planted three of its offshoots on the top with some Crocus 'Blue Pearl'.  Unfortunately I ran out of compost towards the end of this process and had to cover the roots of the Heuchera with some fleece for three frosty days until I could get some more, wait for the pot to thaw out and put the fresh compost on top.  I hope the plants will survive the experience.  Four more offshoots have been potted on and put in the cold frame to recover.  That should give me enough plants to keep going if the vine weevil strike again!

Flowering perennials are now very few and far between in the garden, and indoor colour is now from the winter shrubs.  The winter jasmine is this week's vaseful; but it's good to see the rosemary in full flower too.  And down at the bottom of the garden, the first snowdrop bulbs are nosing up through the ground.

Jasminum nudiflorum (Winter Jasmine)

Rosemary 'Miss Jessopp's Upright'