The first few days of the month were cool, with sunny periods and showers. The 8th was sunny but bitterly cold, with a north wind making it seem even colder, and a heavy hail shower around midday. The temperature plummeted to 0°C overnight with a light frost. The 9th however, saw the first proper frost of the winter, with temperatures reaching minus 2°C. This blackened the Dahlias, but left most other things untouched. A couple more nights of frost, then the weather warmed up again. The odd frost now and again later in the month, but nothing too severe. A lot of rain this month. Maximum temperature 12°C (54°F), minimum temperature minus 2°C (30°F).

Vitis coignetiae is a self-clinging climber with huge leaves, which is supposed to turn beautiful autumn colours. My plant usually just turns a dull brown before the leaves drop off, but this year, it has actually developed beautiful pink, yellow and orange colourings on its leaves. It is a plant which needs a lot of room to grow at its best, but if you want a climber which will cover a pergola, (or anything else for that matter!) fast - this is the fella!

I'm very fond of Salvias, and have several in the garden (see plant list). Many of them flower in the summer, but this is one which flowers later, and is still in flower this month. It is Salvia guaranitica, and has these large, stunningly blue flowers, with furry calyces. It is a tall plant, growing up to 2 metres in my garden. It isn't that hardy, so I have mine in a pot, so that I can bring it into the greenhouse in the winter. It usually gets cut back by the frost, but springs up from the base again every year. Next year, I think I might try planting it into the ground, and just taking a few cuttings as an insurance. Cuttings are incredibly easy to take, just break off a non-flowering side shoot, about 6 - 8cms long, take off the bottom leaves, then stick it in a pot of damp compost. Don't allow the cuttings to dry out, and they will root within about 8 - 10 days, sometimes sooner. I don't even bother to put the cuttings into a propagator!

At this time of the year, when there are few flowers around, seed pods and seed heads come into their own. Here, the picture on the left shows a seed pod of the lovely Iris foetidus 'Citrina' which has just burst to reveal its beautiful shiny red-orange berries, which are every bit as colourful as any flower. These will probably persist into early spring (I hope!) to give a splash of added colour. Other seed heads may not be as colourful, but pictured below on the right is an interesting seed head of Ligularia 'Gregynog Gold', showing its fluffy seeds just ready to be scattered by the first gales of winter. Whilst they are there, though, they add form and texture to the winter garden.

I've been interested in fungi since I was a child, and am totally fascinated by their strange and varied shapes and colours. They are still plants, after all, even though they do not produce flowers! Quite often in the garden, various types of fungi appear from nowhere, and these bracket fungi have colonised an old tree stump which sits on the steps leading down to the lowest level of the garden, level 5. If nothing else, they add fantastic texture to the garden. Aren't they great?

I couldn't believe it when I noticed this flower on my Crinodendron hookeranum. This plant isn't supposed to flower until the spring! Actually, it formed flower buds around September, but they seemed to develop up to a point, then stop completely. This is the only flower which has actually gone on to develop properly. I noticed towards the end of the month that the majority of the other flower buds have dropped off now. I really hope it will try again next spring - I want to see this plant full of flowers!

One of the plants which is a late flowerer is Fatsia japonica. This is a beautiful evergreen architectural-looking plant, which is great for flower arranging. I have three types growing in the garden; the plain green one, a variegated light green, dark green and yellow one, and a variegated green and cream one. They all flower around the same time, with these lovely white flowers which turn quite fluffy as they open. A plant full of flowers is quite a sight to behold on a cold winter's day! I've also just bought a new Fatsia from a local garden centre - this is a light green and very dark green variegated variety. As it was in the house plant section, I shall keep it in the conservatory this winter, and plant it in the garden in spring, when the danger of frost is past. Fatsias are quite hardy, but a plant grown as a house plant needs a full season to harden off before winter, otherwise it will be too tender, and pop it's clogs at the first whiff of frost!! Up until just a few years ago, my Fatsias never flowered until January or February, and the flowers always got killed by the frost, but winters have become so much milder recently that they are flowering much earlier, before damaging frosts get at them.

Birds seen (s) or heard (h) in or around the garden this month - Blackbird (s), Blue Tit (s), Bullfinch (s), Chaffinch (s), Collared Dove (s), Crow (s), Goldfinch (s), House Sparrow (s), Long-tailed Tit (s), Magpie (s), Robin (s), Rook (s), Seagull (s), Starling (s), Thrush (s), Tree Sparrow (s), Wood Pigeon (s), Wren (s).

COTTAGE GARDEN
by Ursula M Prout


What better place in all the world
In which to sit and dream,
Than in a cottage garden
Close beside a singing stream,
Where the soothing sound of waters
Purling quietly on their way,
Brings a measure of contentment
To an overcrowded day.

As hidden 'mid the foliage
Of a flowering cherry tree,
A blackbird breaks the silence
With his latest rhapsody,
And roses lift their crimson heads
Above the trellised wall,
A humble cottage garden
Is the loveliest place of all!