Autumn Cottage Diarist

New Year's Eve 2020 - a Wander in the Winter Gardens

A relaxing (I hope!) ten minutes in the Winter Gardens of the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum.

This has been a bit of a year, hasn't it? Wishing you all a much happier 2021!

 

Black Gold!

It's a dank and foggy November day here - so I kept myself warm by turning the compost heap! Hard work now gives a rich food for the garden in just a few months, with the added bonus that nothing goes to waste here. Recycling at its best!

 

 

Return to the Garden

Back to one of our very favourite places - gradually emerging from lockdown

 

 

A Quick Whip Round!

A wander round the garden to see what has changed over the last couple of weeks

 

 

April Showers!

Typical British weather!

 

 

Shoulder to the (Herb) Wheel at Autumn Cottage!

Renovation of the Herb wheel has commenced!

 

Let There be Light!

I've hardly been indoors for the last few weeks. We are having a glorious summer here in England - not too hot, (with just the odd, heatwave-y, 'phew I need to snooze in the summerhouse' kind of day), blue skies with cotton boll clouds, the garden flourishing and more colour than I think I have ever seen there before (all the composting and weeding have been worth it). I spend most of my 'sitting down' time (which is not much!) eating meals or reading on the patio, under the parasol - and from there, the view above is the view that I have during the day…

But at night time, the patio - and the rest of the garden - is plunged into darkness…until now. I pondered what it would be like to add a little light, and finally we purchased two solar powered spotlights as an experiment. They now illuminate 'The Petticoat Girl', a replica of one of the pair of humble painted plaster figures that my Nana displayed, in pride of place, in her parlour in the 1950's. Our little statue has lived here in the garden for over twenty years. (Her 'pair' - a coy little boy - bought by my mother, was stolen from our front garden a while before that...)

I must say that the experiment has been a great success -  the lights have transformed the space outside! We are so taken with the effect that I've promptly acquired another pair, which will illuminate a portrait bust on the other side of the courtyard. More of that later when they are installed…but for now - what do you think of the difference? ( Don't fear, though, that Autumn Cottage will turn into 'Glitter City' - restraint in all things illuminatory will be the Autumn Cottage Way! )

In daylight...

....and after dark

 

Village Gardens on a Summer Sunday in June

The local Parish opened its gardens yesterday...Put your comfy shoes on, and come take a walk with me...

 

Potstands and Pruning

Down comes the jumble of tangled prunings - bit by bit, snip by snip.My trusty pruning platform!

A little round-up of a satisfying day at this beginning of 2019, which I've mostly spent working in the garden until dark . Did you hear - I'm BACK IN THE GARDEN AGAIN!!! I am now able to wear my contact lenses for several hours at a time (rather than minutes) - they've been disallowed since three weeks before Christmas, due to an inflammatory eye condition, which means that I can now actually see what I am doing.

We are forecast much colder weather in the coming week, so I've been getting on with the pruning of a rampant 'Paul's Himalayan Musk' Rose, growing through an equally rampant Eleagnus. This long overdue job is hard work, but do-able by just setting realistic targets...not trying to do it all on one go, and taking it slowly, carefully and patiently. Standing back lots of times to see what shape is required...then taking of a little bit more...and a little bit more. We'll get there in the end.

I've also cleared a mountain of leaves from the (not so much at the moment) 'Mediterranean Terrace' and opened up the Summerhouse to get ready for Imbolc in just over a couple of weeks time. I sat in the summerhouse for fifteen minutes to just take in the peace of the winter garden and start to plan what I will do there in the months to come. That tiny little shack is such a refuge to me (and plenty of insects!) at all times of the year. I just love it there. If you come to visit, you will no doubt end up here with a cup of tea!

Japanese wind chimes and birdsong are all that I heard at the peaceful pond today.

Snowdrops are coming up *everywhere* - such a symbol of hope in the darkest days...the longer daylight IS returning - only minute by minute, but noticeable (to me, anyway!).

Snowdrops and periwinkle - who said there is no colour in the winter garden?

And above - another symbol of hope, if you are a gardener...six bags of gorgeous leaves, which (in two years time!) will be six bags of gorgeous, black leafmould.

The 'Grotty Potstand'

The pot stand top - with lovely wood underneath!

Indoors, I have 'A Project'…from the Secondhand Furniture barn in Wantage yesterday - a rather grotty  pot-stand, over painted half a dozen times and with a filthy piece of vinyl flooring tacked to the top - but made of lovely pine, and I think will look very nice when stripped. Bought for a tenner (£10.00 uk pounds) - a bit stiff, I thought - but I wanted it, so made 'an investment'. Watch this space for progress.

Welcome back, friends, to another year in Autumn Cottage garden.

The Drama of Gardens in Winter

Hammamelis (Witch Hazel) - sweet scented and blazing with colour

A perfect start to the year - a few hours at Hilliers,  Gardens of my Heart; starting off as a clear blue-skied day, clouding over after lunch. I've never seen the place so crowded…there was a (free) Guided Walk at 2 pm and there must have been 200 people in the crocodile. Fortunately we had taken our walk by then - I'm not much of a 'group doer' of anything in the countryside (or anywhere else, for that matter!)

As usual, we had a delicious lunch in the first class café, which I have also never seen so crowded. In fact, I've not seen the whole gardens so full before, but one of the beauties of the place is that  there is always plenty of space there for one to never feel cramped and for children to run off  steam in a most satisfying manner!

The guided walk Crocodile!

We sat outside, wrapped up against a slight chill but in the sun, which always makes the dogwoods surrounding the veranda glow so beautifully. Today I had a vegan sweet potato chili with rice and nachos. (Oh, how eating in the outdoor air enhances the appetite!)  We are never  disappointed, the quality and value of the food there is exceptional, and we often make the 45 minute drive there just to have lunch.

The 'cafe dogwoods'

Here are a few images of our walk - as you can see, there is much to see even at what is often considered the most barren time of the year. Look closer - it is not barren at all. Snowdrops and daffodils are already appearing, and the beauty of the naked trees - their colourful and varied barks, their bark and branch patterns, their twists and turns are both visually entrancing and evocative of the places which were once the (not so far in the past) home for much of humankind.

Sun through Birch barkBetula utilis and a beautiful blue sky!
Snowdrops
Daffodils - a very early variety

A fabulously gnarled burr on - I think - a Maple
Cornus sanguinea (Dogwood) - 'Midwinter Fire'
The wintertime drama of the naked trees - hidden in the summer

I'm looking even closer now that I have begun the rather wonderful, year long 'Tongues in Trees' course with novelist, poet, eco-warrior and mentor Roselle Angwin - so much beauty and learning stored up for me to immerse myself for twelve lovely months…my Soul is already soothed and restored.

Gunnera leaves cut down, protecting their tender growing points through Winter.