This post won’t be echoing the mood of Patti Smith’s Elegie, I just liked the line with the picture! (Altho’ it has made me reacquaint myself with Patti on YouTube as I write).
This Nerine from Avon Bulbs really does announce its presence with panache.
Autumn continues on an alternate rain / still low gold sun course. More leaves are making their way to the ground. Looking across the park two of the trees are almost completely gold now.
Little surprises, today in Bristol by a path onto Castle Mound a random Tricyrtis is flowering, not something one expects to see in what is a municipal planting. Also a sweet stirring smell of pine from Scots Pines by the path further up. Something to think about when planting for scent, evoking warm mediterranean days on a cloudy October Wednesday.
The weekend was spent tidying and clearing the greenhouse. Out came the whitefly ridden tomato plants (sulphur candle overnight) and in went bubble wrap and some of the tenders and a few more cuttings. This year I only grew two tomato varieties and neither succumbed to blight, however the yellow Wapsinicon Peach (Plant World) grew lustily but hardly set fruit at all, the Costoluto Fiorentino (Seeds of Italy) set considerably better but was somewhat shy to ripen in the grey days that we have had. Harvested the small crop of Borlotti Lingua di Fuoco (Seeds of Italy) which have been cooked at the plumptious just out of the drying pod stage rather than dried, and used in a vegetable stew.
A tip from Avon Bulbs recent newsletter about drying off pots now under open cover may help things like Agapanthus survive over the winter as the excessive summer rains will have compacted soil in pots and generally now is not a good time to re-pot plants if overwintering outside.
I took loads and loads of rose cuttings as per a shrub cutting rather than the stick in a slit trench, for various reasons (including neglect/drying out) only two appear to have taken, I am crossing my fingers.