THE WEATHER -

After weeks of dry weather, it finally rained on the 1st and 2nd. Not enough to penetrate beneath the trees, though. It continued warm and dry until the 8th, when it turned very cold and windy, remaining cold for the next few days. Finally - decent rain, at last! Heavy rain fell from around 4pm on the 11th, and continued for several hours. No rain on the 12th, but once it started again on the 13th, as usual, it didn't know when to stop! Very heavy rain for the next few days - but at last, it has soaked the ground properly, and the garden is looking lovely again! No shortage of rain for the rest of the month, but some nights were very cold, giving a ground frost. Warmer towards the end of the month, however. Gale force winds on the 27th, which brought down several trees and branches of trees in the surrounding area, but no damage in my garden, other than knocking over a lot of the pots! (Oh, it did take off a ridge tile from the house roof as well!) Typical autumn weather to round off the month - damp and misty! Maximum temperature this month, 18°C (66°F), and minimum temperature minus 2°C (30°F).

When looking round the garden early in the month, I suddenly spied these Clematis flowers. This is Clematis cirrhosa 'Wisley Cream'. According to my book, it shouldn't flower until late winter/early spring, so this is in flower very early. It might be a reaction to the fact that it didn't flower last year, so I thought I would cut it down if it didn't flower again this year. I think I frightened it into flowering! The flowers aren't as showy as the large-flowered varieties, but they have a charm all of their own, I think.

At this time of the year, really "in your face" flowers are few and far between. Dahlias are some of the most colourful flowers in the garden at the moment, and this one is a lovely variety with bronze leaves and vivid orange double flowers, called 'Ellen Huston'. I have other varieties with bronze leaves, such as 'David Howard', and 'Bishop of Llandaff', both still flowering well at the moment.

In the conservatory, this Neoregelia is in flower. I don't know the exact variety, as it wasn't named when I bought it, but it has lovely pink and green striped leaves which glow in the sun. Neoregelias are bromeliads, and are easy to care for, as long as the "vase" which the leaf rosettes form is kept topped up with water regularly.

I always love to see the different seed heads on plants at this time of year. These fascinating ones are on Belamcanda chinensis, and look rather like an elongated blackberry! The seeds are quite hard though, but really shiny and black. I shall collect some to propagate from, as I could do with a few more of these plants, which have small, but colourful orange lily-like flowers on the end of long stems which remind me of an orchid, the way the fleshy leaves are herringboned up the stem.

This Kniphofia, called 'Bressingham Comet' is flowering away merrily, giving a welcome splash of colour in the garden. It is a late flowering variety, which is not very tall, growing to around 25cms in height, making it useful at the front of the border. I love Kniphofias, they are such colourful flowers, and there is such a variety to choose from, in height, colour and time of flowering. With a bit of thought, you could have a different one in flower at any time from late spring to late autumn!

Sometimes, autumn days are just glorious! I couldn't resist photographing this beautiful Acer palmatum 'Senkaki' displaying its autumn colours against a clear blue sky on October 24th. Considering the amount of rain we have had this month, it's a wonder we have seen any sunshine at all - but here's the proof!

That's all for this month...... Happy Gardening!!

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Crow, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Jay, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Rook, Seagull, Starling, Thrush, Wood Pigeon, Wren.