Autumn Cottage Diarist

The Day that the Robin Sang to Me

  Narcissus 'Jetfire'

It would have been a special day, yesterday, (as days wandering the Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum and Gardens always are for me), if it had only been for the explosion of springtime colour through the wintering brown earth. The bursting gold of the daffodils and narcissi, the yellow clouds of blossom on the Hammamelis, the pink airbrushing of the early cherry blossom. The appearance of different plants, alone, always gives me an infusion of joy, an immediate reconnection, though primarily my visual sense (though also though olfactory scents) with the totality of the natural world, of which I am just a tiny part.

Dried Miscanthus stems

Iris reticulata

Euphorbia chariacas 'wulfenii'

All this would have been enough...but I also had the pleasure of sitting in the warmth of the garden Pavilion restaurant, able to tuck into delicious Thai lentil cakes and green curry, drinking Elderflower presse and savouring what the gardens had to offer (swathes of wild daffodils spreading down the hill, the Winter garden full of colour and already beckoning me) before we made our foray out into the wild.

The heather beds in the Winter Garden

These two pleasures would have been enough...but I also had the most wonderful encounter with another species. We had walked down to the Great Pond, past the Gunneras still wearing their winter hats and for all the world looking completely dead (before they make their own grand entrance out into the world again in a month or two). We were walking up to Jermyn's House, past the Himalayan gardens and Ghurka Memorial, climbing up though the valley of burgeoning camellias, azaleas, and early rhododendrons. gazing upwards at the new blooms.

Camellia japonica

Magnolia grandiflora buds opening

Rhododendron

Distracted enough, that I almost stepped on a little Robin, bobbing about around my feet. I sidestepped, warned Alec to ‘take care!’ and fully expected the little bird (it was a vividly red-breasted cock Robin) to flutter off into the undergrowth, where a hen Blackbird was also bobbing about, fossicking in the bark chippings for insects, happily unafraid of us, but keeping her distance.

The friendly Robin

But the Robin did not keep his distance. He reduced it, hop by hop, bob by bob. He quite clearly fixed his gaze upon me, looked up at me, cocked his head from side to side, hopped closer and closer - and sang to me. He did not just sing. He sang to me. He connected his gaze with my eye, and addressed me as clearly as I have ever been addressed - by dog, by cat, by human.

He attempted to communicate with me - I did not understand what his message was - but a message he was quite clearly, and quite fearlessly, sending. It was not accompanied by any aggressive gestures; he came closer and closer, (about 30 cms away at my shoulder, when I sat on a bench) still fixing his eye constantly with mine. He warbled softly and most beautifully, directly to me, and I was immensely moved.

 I suspected that he had possibly been hand fed, though when I asked one of the staff exiting the building if that was the case, he said, no, nobody there had been doing that to his knowledge, and so wasn't I lucky to be having that encounter anyway? I  found it  almost impossible to respond to him, because I was, quite simply, choked and overcome. Words are inadequate to describe the emotion I felt, I just know that there are many of you reading this that will know just exactly what touched my heart. One day, we will understand Them.

Helleborus orientalis - the 'Lenten Rose' - under the still-bare trees

All these things would have added up to a most delightful day - but even then, there were more special things in store. There is always an exhibition of some artistic nature in the Pavilion; yesterday, three artists were setting up their wildlife paintings in preparation for today's opening of the exhibition entitled 'Inspired by Nature'. I felt particularly deeply engaged with the art of one of the exhibitors, Daphne Ellman, who works mostly in acrylics and had produced a captivating series of paintings depicting various animals and plants present during each month of the year in the UK.

These monthly 'portraits' have been turned into a calendar, which was a lot more affordable than the originals, but still fell into my 'well, I *could' afford it, but *should' I?’ category. While I pondered, Alec stepped in, generously purchasing the calendar as my Mother's Day gift for today from him. The calendar is set for 2013, but before then, it will most certainly be dissected and framed (though where in the world I am going to find the wall space, I really don’t know!)

All these things would be more bounty that anyone could expect on one day - but the final treat was presented when I asked the artist if she did any teaching at all? One of my 'goals for the year' has been to get back to some creative activity, which I have always needed, and for a long time now have not really pursued. She answered affirmatively, and said she had a two day workshop coming up in April. I have a 30th Wedding Anniversary coming up in May, and once more, before I could do any pondering at all, Alec leapt into the breach and paired the two together!

The Birch Grove

Narcissi with Pulmonaria - a planting idea...

...and another idea - wild planting along the rustic hurdle fence to the Children's gardens

Now I have the happy anticipation of the upcoming weekend, as well as the actual pleasure of taking part. How’s that for a long-lasting gift – and don't you think my cup more than ran over yesterday??

Share a sip from my cup by listening to that Robin's song, welcoming Springtime, as well as myself!

 

Indoors in the Garden

Hyacinths (sold off for a pound a pot in the January sales, when just about to bloom) now in full flourish. I wish I could offer 'Smellyvision' here, so you could all inhale the heady perfume!

Though we are experiencing the mildest winter we have had for years, our dear weather forecasters at the Met Office & BBC are warning us that temperatures will drop in the next couple of days - so my happy forays into the garden outside may be curbed for a while.

Strappy leaves of an orchid on the table with a number of pelargoniums taking refuge from the outside temperatures. Tender Abutilon, Olive and Lavendula stoechas on the floor - with a comfy chair and sofa placed for birdwatching (and tea-drinking!)

When that happens, I am so grateful that I have my conservatory and 'Indoor garden' to enjoy, full of houseplants and refugees from outside. Here are just a few images of my green and leafy haven in which *I* can take refuge when the weather is less than clement outdoors (and from where I can sit and watch my beloved wild birds come down to the feeders). Life is good, in the outside AND inside gardens!

Meanwhile...in the TV room/snug, Himself makes it clear that he is not interested in birdWATCHING and all the silly humans who indulge in it. He is NOT amused :-)

Lots going on in the Garden...

Autumn Cottage is waking up again...Come on over to the Garden, where summer is a-flourishing!

Beech, Birch, Elder, Maple...apple, whitebeam, sycamore, oak

A once-upon-a-time-hedge...Field maples at the bottom of the garden

It has been a day for gathering up the leaves at Autumn Cottage - another free harvest from Mother Nature if we care to collect. I have been 'bagging up' leaves for a few years now - piling them into black refuse bags with a few holes at the bottom and stacking them behind the sheds and fences, hidden away to break down into brown gold - leafmould, which acts as a wonderful soil conditioner and fertiliser. But there is such an abundance of leaves here each year that I rapidly run out of bags and places to hide them.

Two old fire-guards = 1 excellent new leaf cage!

This year I have had a brainwave and utilised two old safety fire guards that have been knocking around the garden for a long time. (I can't remember how I acquired them - but do remember thinking that they would come in handy for something one day). I dragged one from the bottom of the garden to join the other one that has been languishing behind the greenhouse - upended them and lashed them together very simply with some gardening wire, and lo - a large open mesh leaf-bin, some 48 inches (1.2 metres) square, into which I have been able to pile springy-sack after springy sack (collapsible garden refuse bins stiffened with a spring coil to keep them open) - 21 loads in all so far. Nearly ALL the garden leaves for this year are now piled up in there, and still there is room to spare.

A carpet of delicate maple leaves ready to be gathered into the springy-sack

There were two main carpets of leaves in the garden - those - light and delicate - at the bottom of the garden, from the field maple, and a carpet of much tougher, ligneous leaves under the apple tree. I alternated loads from each, as they all break down better if they are mixed - now all I have to do is leave them (leave them - get it? :-)) - For a year, and then add to the veg and flower beds as yet another way of returning nutrients and texturisers instead of piling them on a heap and setting fire to them. What a waste - and I do love free stuff in the garden!

I've had plenty of company as well - as the days grow much shorter, Lissie stays closer to the cottage (she apparently spends longer days with my neighbours across the road). This is why Pip appears so much more often here than Liss - but just for the record, here they are together, valiantly holding down the scraps of old carpet that are suppressing weeds prior to me digging over the beds. (Not beautiful, but very, very effective).

'Am I Not Beautiful?'

Pip then put in a solo appearance high up in the Acer branches, just to let me know that pussycats can do such things as run vertically up a tree, while Humans really can't. He enjoys looking down on me...(though there was a blue-tit flitting around some much higher branches, demonstrating to Pip that dicky birds can fly - whilst cats - er - very much can't. Oh, the humiliation!

A blue-tit enjoying the last apples, left on the tree precisely for that purpose

A (rather tatty) Red Admiral, soaking up the last rays of the sun on a blackcurrant leaf in the veg garden

Looking closely in Autumn Cottage garden reveals that Nature only *seems* to  close down for the winter. Though the leaves of the Cotinus, about to fall, are truly going out in a blaze of glory, the jasmine (along with the hellebores) is bursting into full flower now, demonstrating that there is actually always something interesting and full of vitality going on in the garden - if only we open our eyes to see and appreciate it.

Purple Cotinus leaves, decaying in a dramatically decorative manner

Winter Jasmine bursting forth - always something beautiful to enjoy

Dig Winter Veg for Victory!

From the days before TV programmes or websites...here's a little gardening help leaflet issued in WW2, which I have not seen before,  found just this morning amongst my father's papers while I do some family history filing as part of my office clear-up.

I have been thinking just this week of which seeds I need to sow in order that I will have a supply of veggies in the garden through next winter (I've been poorly organised in this regard up until now)...and lo - into my hand falls this leaflet as if in answer to that musing - Thanks, Dad!

I will, of course, follow up the suggested plan with a bit of research into best varieties etc - but it's a jolly good motivating start, isn't it? Feel free to copy for your own use...as always, right click to download. I can send a .pdf if you prefer that - just ask.

A Hidden Garden in Angouleme

The 12th century front of Angouleme cathedral

We made the journey to Angouleme principally to visit the Cathedral there, which is high on the list of impressive Romanesque architecture in France. Unfortunately for us, though the Cathedral front lived up to its reputation, the interior was something of a disappointment - the choir, chancel, apse and transepts were all cordoned off, filled with scaffolding to do what seemed like a little over-enthusiastic cleaning, and also a film crew, recording who knows what.

The Ascenscion, Christ surrounded by symbols of SS Matthew, Mark, Luke & John

St George, doing his thing with the dragon...damsel in distress to the left!

St George, lending his cloak to the beggar

A charming statue in a quiet corner... St Antony of Padua. Can you see the prayer notes tucked under the plinth?
Scaffolding everywhere..the stonework rather harshly over-cleaned, I think

So our visit to the actual Cathedral was brief...but we had also noticed a sign to "Museum" on our way there. Taking the road on the south side, instead of retracing our steps approaching from the north, we arrived in the back-streets of the cathedral...and look at what we found - in the former Bishop's palace, attached to the back of the cathedral...

The entrance to the museum, yes...

But also the most beautiful, unexpected garden - perfectly suited to the hot, dry, environment of a city in South-western France

A well-head in the courtyard...limited colour palette of greys, whites and blues - and, of course, green.

Pathways transecting the courtyard

A tiny fountain amongst the greenery - how delicious is the sound of running water in a hot country

What would you give to have that wall and those capitals as a backdrop in your own garden?

A vine in a box - showing just what is possible in a small space

Never liked artificial blue - or any other colour - chips in the garden before...but I am converted - they looked fabulous here

Even the colour palette of the surrounding streets was subtle and inspiring.

In my next post, I'll take you on a tour around the museum - another hidden gem. but for now, take another stroll through the hidden garden :-)

T'was a Damp and Drizzly Day...

...I should have been painting skirting boards or writing essays...but I have cabin fever, and however much there was to be done at home, I needed to get out. I have a membership to the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, just outside Winchester, which means that I get free entry for 364 days of the year - and as gardening particularly fires my blood at this season, off we went for the afternoon. It might have been better if the sun was shining, but British weather is never that predictable, and I think you will agree that the rain lent a certain softness to the colours that might otherwise have been more strident. They are technicolour enough as they are - and as you will see as you scroll through the photographs.

If you would all like to put your wellington boots on, you can join me as I retrace my afternoon garden walk. As we stroll along, I hope you enjoy the peace, the birdsong, and the soft patter of the misty rain.

Always there are sculptures scattered around the gardens

The Winter Garden - but with something interesting at every season

Burgeoning heads of Euphorbia chariacas

I love this sharp, acid green!
Harebells, bark pathways...the planting shown off to perfection by the dark brown of the composted bark mulches

The pathway down to the pond

The Leaf-House shelter

Bather

Ornamental rhubarb just unfurling

The marginal plant Orontium

Mother and young Moorhens fossicking about for insects along the pond margin

Hostas and Gunnera mannicata just emerging

Candelabra primula alongside the stream

Himalayan plantings leading up to the Ghurka Memorial...azeleas and rhododendron

Memorial to Sir Maurice Kadoorie, "benefactor to Ghurkas and their homeland"

A perfect place to rest awhile...

Exquisite rhododendron

New growth of Pieris behind another bank of azeleas.

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If you have enjoyed this walk around the gardens, you might like to send me (click the 'email me' link at the top of the page) your snail-mail address...I have three sets of three postcards showing plantings from Hilliers, which would look nice on an office pinboard, or in simple little frames. Free to the first three who ask for them :-).

Plants for Free - Happy Me!

Those of you not "into" gardening will probably think this post very sad,...but I had to share the discovery I made on the gravel drive this afternoon - loads and loads of seedlings in the gravel, just waiting for me to
dig them out and pot them up. These are some of the "treasures for free"...

Buddleia

Lots of "weenie" little holly plants

Cotoneaster and Bowles Golden grass

Everywhere there are seed heads forming - which I am, of course, also collecting...more free plants!

Fennel seed heads in the herb garden

Below, a sedum (ice-plant) is just opening...one of the plants that gives some of the most reliably gorgeous, deep colour in the garden...together with a worker bee, just testing out this particular plant to check if the florets have fully opened yet...(a day or two longer, I think).

And all through this glorious, Indian Summer afternoon, Pip has kept me company while I cut back and clean up the pelargoniums from the patio, before I bring them all under cover to overwinter in the conservatory. What a happy, golden afternoon, pleasantly pottering in the garden. Lucky me.

Come into the Garden, Maud!

Who would not be tempted by the cover of this book - "Ther Morville Hours" by Katherine Swift - who made a home and garden at Morville Hall in Shropshire and then wrote about the experience using the structure of a medieval Book of Hours. What could be a more delicious combination? I am anticipating the advent of warmer weather towards the weekend, so am already imagining myself listening to the buzz of the bees on a hot summer's afternoon, with this book in hand. I'll report more when more has been read!

Phew!

Liquadamber leaves at Hilliers Gardens

Just catching up with everyone since once again it seems an age since I spoke to you all. I was expecting this semester to fly by, but I didn't expect it to be turbo-charged, with me flapping about in the jet-stream!

Since I spoke to everyone, the pace at college has revved up. I am following two modules this semester, one of which is online, and requires input each week, the other of which is by attendance at the University each week for a lecture, plus a PowerPoint presentation plus discussion  in ten days time, and a 4000 word essay by the end of January. After that - my personal attendance is not required, but I will then start to write the final part of my MA  - a 20000 word dissertation.

Steve the builder, giving the fireplace a final hand-stripping to remove the last traces of varnish

On the home front, I am trying to redecorate my "little" sitting room, the room in the house with most of the old features left, including an inglenook fireplace, old bread oven, a Victorian pine fireplace surround and a number of the timber frame beams exposed. The fireplace surround and the beams have taken a LONG time to strip of their many layers of paint and/or varnish, it is not a job that can be rushed, but they are now nearing the point where they can be waxed or oiled and polished - and then I can paint the walls! I was hoping to have it done by Christmas - but it may not be feasible. I'm hoping that by the time Britt-Arnhild comes to visit me in February, it WILL be done, however - something to get my skates on for!

Darren doing the same to excess plaster, which has been masking the old beams

Autumn Cottage garden has also needed attention - only minimal, I'm afraid, as the weather has been wet for much of the time...but the patio garden is now spick and span - with ideas for next year floating around in my head after watching the Mediterranean segment of Monty Don's "Around the World in 80 Gardens" (being especially inspired by the courtyard gardens of Cordoba) and by getting round to sending off my membership application to join the Mediterranean Garden Society - of which place, more later...

Well, the wet and windy - and cold - is certainly with us today. I am spending the morning doing my unfavourite task of the week - sorting paperwork, answering mail and shredding discarded paper and envelopes. The only thing that makes it a tiny bit less tedious is to pile all the junk mail into a box and see how much "free stuff" I have for collage work. I'm offering a "Create a Book of Inspiration" workshop in the New Year and I love to tell participants, and even more SHOW them what is out there for free. Even after taking my name off many mailing lists, it still seems to pour through the letterbox, so now I say "thank you very much for free stuff" and pop it in the collage box.

The envelopes and anything with personal details gets shredded and then gets put on the compost heap - round and round it goes again, and will end up on the veg garden next year. I LOVE it! (I'm careful not to shred highly coloured papers for the compost heap though - the inks may be toxic and I don't want that on the garden).

I have another excellent offer for the compost heap by the way - a friend who came for coffee last week informed me that she had four horses and that I was welcome to take their manure for the garden. I was thrilled! And now you know what sort of a person you are dealing with here at Autumn Cottage - the sort of person who becomes ecstatic at the thought of a trailer-load of POO!!

The weather was so much better last week - so once again we visited the delightful Hillier's Gardens near Romsey...enjoy these few photographs to see just how wonderful a garden can look in late autumn. Perhaps mine can look like this too, one day.....:-)

Training ground for future horticulturists - the Children's Garden training area at Hilliers, with raised beds and compost bins much in evidence. Waiting for Spring!

One of the fascinating sculptures that are dotted around the gardens...can you see what this lizard is made of??

Bicycle chains and other pieces of scrap metal - amazing - and SO realistic!

Colours in the Winter Garden - who says that this time of the year is uninteresting?