It was raining hard this morning, but now the sun has come out and it is like a sauna at 60F, how strange! Frost in the night and the Delphiniums are out. But to cheer me up some of all the pansies I grew from seed have come into flower. Not quite the colour it said on the packet, but good enough I suppose!
I have not heard from a lot of people for so long, where is everybody?
Regards.
Neil.

My sun room now, I have 3 - 5 more brugs coming today. Mature ones I may not have any room for them.

Outside garden is finished bloom for the year. I have a few house plants, but except for an apricot Christmas cactus, nothing to discuss. John has started to rake up pine needles for the mulch for iris beds over the winter. We have alternate freezing & thawing so like to prevent heaving.

Ours are pretty much gone also. Did notice a bloom or two on a couple of die-hards but pretty much over now till next spring.

John is beginning to rake up the pine needles to winter mulch the irises. We have a tree nearby but our neighbor lets him gather their needles.

Dear Lucy, i know this is Strictly Gardening but this is in a way! My neighbour has a lot of fruit trees everything from plums, apples, cherries, pears to quinces. So when he prunes them he stacks all the wood up for me and we leave it to season. Then the small bits I shred, and the big bits I also save for my smokers. The sawdust like chippings I use for cold smoking and the bigger bits for hot smoking.
I buy in the chipped remains of old whisky barrels which are quite cheap, as they are no use any more.
So as I am feeling a lot better now, it is time to get a salmon in the cold smoker.
As you know oak is commonplace in England and people will gladly give you what you want of fallen branches if you ask them, nicely.
So I simply smoke the salmon in a mixture of woods, then finish it off with some whisky barrel sawdust.
My father will be over the moon and so will Sarah, as she loves smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for breakfast.
It is OK salmon is cheap over here, a whole salmon will cost you about $12-14 at the most.
Why waste wood, when it can be used for a useful purpose, not junk mail.
Regards.
Neil.

More pansies to plant today, I fear I have grown too many this year and have too many tulips as well!. Oh well I may find somewhere to plant them.
Sarah wanted these purple and orange ones, I keep telling her purple and orange do not go together, the colours clash, but that is what she wanted for some of the winter bedding!
Well I have my Red & Gold ones that I like and some beautiful Blue velvet ones.
I am hoping she does not expect me to plant purple and orange ones with my colours!
Regards.
Neil.

Purple and Orange is BEAUTIFUL together. Add a couple of white to it. You'll see.

Purple and orange is not nice in one plant! Gertrude Jekyll's color wheel.
Plus we have a new person on Cottage Gardens, and you have not even said hello! I had to do it.
Regards.
Neil

You've never seen out fields of wildflowers out west then.

Not in the west of America no.
Hugs.
Neil.

My husband's college colors were purple & orange--I think that they clash as well. Now I have some dwarf iris seedlings which are purple with orange beards, so that is all right. I would not plant the 2 colors together, though. Warm enough in the low 60s so got one side of foliage cut back on the siberian iris bed. I can sit to rest, but get tired leaning over. I hit my thumb with the Japanese rice knive which I use, but it didn't come through my glove. I hold the foliage with my left hand and one 'swish' with my right. Some day it is not going to work without cuts.

Dear Lucy, glad to hear you are OK. My Pansies are doing great even with the cold, nothing stops pansies! I love to see them in the spring with the tulips in bloom, just a mass of colour. After a long hard northern hemisphere winter.
Hope you are both well.
Regards.
Neil.

Warm enough today so that John & I finished cutting back the siberian iris foliage. Many people leave it to spring, but it is such a mess in the fall that I would be horrified to deal with it next spring.

Dear Lucy, the maples in my Garden are starting to turn into there Autumn colours. The tree ferns are still having new fronds even in the cold which is very unusual, normally if it is frosty I put them to bed for the winter and hope. They will not have it this year, as it has been freezing on a night but is now 58F at the moment! Quite astonishing!
Regards,
Neil.

Try to check in here. Hope everyone is well. I am slowly but surely makeing progress with the on-line classes I need to hold on to my certification.

We are in high wind warnings. Have been since yesterday. In the fight of Vind Vs pergola, the pergola lost.

Dear Cherie, i thought you were already CERTIFIED
Keep out of that wind!
It has been lovely here today, Pansy planting tomorrow after doing some bread for my father!
Behave!

Neil.

sounds like she has to renew the certification.

yep renewing. Neil is being a smart butt

Dear all, I got a stunning photograph and a lovely message from Richard at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew this morning. What excitement if you have never seen one, here is the message.
Thank you all for your kind words. I thought you might like to see a picture of a titan arum - Amorphophallus titanum - came into bloom yesterday.I was lucky to catch it as the inflorescence only lasts a day.
His own thread on my cubit Kew Gardens Through the Seasons is at http://cubits.org/Neil/thread/...
Regards to all.
Neil.