SLOWLY SLIDING TOWARD AUTUMN

I don’t like it but it is true, the first signs of Autumn are visible in the garden and in the air, you can already smell it and the nights are almost cold. The leaves of the trees and shrubs are looking a bit tired, the sedums have buds who start to colour, the spiders ( those with the cross on their backs who are only visible late in Summer and in Autumn) are weaving their nets….I am not a fan of Autumn however beautiful it can be. We have had quite a bit of sun lately with showers now and again so everything has been growing like mad.

One of the fasted growers in my garden is the Russian vine(polygonum aubertii) over here we call it “brides veil” my husband uses this climber to give to his birds otherwise it would not have been in my garden, it is just too big, we have to cut it down every year in Spring otherwise it takes over the whole garden !!! But it is pretty and the flowers last for a very long time !

HERE YOU CAN SEE THE SEEDPODS OF CLEMATIS ETOILE VIOLETTE

ANOTHER FAST GROWER IS PASSIFLORA CAERULEA, I BOUGHT THIS PLANT ONLY ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO AND ALREADY IS HAS GROWN ABOUT 4 METERS !!! NO SIGN OF FLOWERS YET THOUGH

SEDUM SPECTABILE WILL BE IN BLOOM SOON

HERE YOU SEE HOW THE LEAVES OF THE GERNANIUM MACRORHIZUM ARE LOOKING A BIT TIRED

MY YUCCA ON THE TERRACE

THE DAHLIA’S ARE STILL LOOKING GOOD THOUGH

MR FROGGY WAITING FOR SOME FLY’S TO CATCH, HE IS SITTING BETWEEN THE SEDUM AND THE NEPETA

I hope you are all enjoying your garden ! Thanks for visiting , it’s much appreciated !

AN ORDINARY SUNDAY IN AUGUST

I cannot believe it is August already ! Lately we have had quite a bit of hot weather so everything is growing like mad, however some plants suffer from the heath. The fuchsia flowers and the roses don’t stay fresh for long and I can’t keep up watering all the pots. But I am not complaining as I love being outside, sitting on the terrace and looking at the garden.

The birds and the bees and the butterflies apparently love my garden, they are everywhere but they are very hard to catch on camera. But I am happy to have them in my garden and I love to see they like it.

JUST A FEW DAHLIA’S

I GAVE MY FUCHSIA’S A SHADIER PLACE AS THEY REALLY DON’T LIKE THE HEATH

DURING THE DAY I GIVE THEM EXTRA SHADOW WITH AN UMBRELLA

MY FIG TREE, HERE YOU CAN SEE IT HAS A SMALL SPACE TO LIVE IN, APPARENTLY FIG TREE’S LIKE THAT

THE LACE CAP HYDRANGEA ONLY STARTED BLOOMING NOW

FLOWERING HERBS AND A BUTTERFLY

YELLOW MILLIONBELL’S

MY YUCCA

WHITE ECHINACEA, I WANT MORE OF THEM NEXT YEAR !

SOME SORT OF SEDUM

HONEYSUCKLE AGAINST THE GARAGE

A FLOWERLESS ANNUAL ON A WINDOWSILL, I LOVE THE GRAY COLOUR !

A STILL LIFE ON A TABLE

HYDRANGEA MACROPHYLLA

A FEW LITTLE MIRRORS ON THE FENCE IN THE FORM OF A GEKKO

AND MY ALBIZZIA JULLIBRIZZIN FINALLY IN BLOOM

I LOVE IT’S FOLLIAGE

A FEW BEE’S ON THE VERONICA VIRGINICA

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend ! Enjoy your garden !

HOT

Finally Summer arrived over here, it is hot !  28 C°, I know some of you will have a good laugh cos 28 C° is normal or even on the cool side for you, but for us it is baking hot ! Most of my plants are loving it and they are thriving. The Summer holidays have started for the schoolkids and for a large part of the working population so they are all very happy. Life is so different now, we can eat outside morning, noon and evening and we can even have a nightcap on the terrace before we go to sleep. Now I would love to have a swimming pool in the garden but for the short period we can swim outside during Summer it is really not worth having a swimming pool, unless you have loads of space. Ofcourse I can dive into our pond but I don’t want to scare our fish !

Last week was crazy as I had 2 sick children to care for and a sick husband (he counts for 10) so I didn’t get a chance to work in the garden. I did manage to take a few pictures for you.

A TINY SUCCULENT IN BLOOM, DOES ANYONE KNOW THE NAME OF THIS PLANT ? UPDATE : THANKS TO djdfr WHO HAS A BLOG UNDER THIS NAME ON WORDPRESS I NOW KNOW THE NAME OF THIS SUCCUENT : SEDUM DASYPHYLLUM, THANK YOU !

A GUEST FROM SOUTH AFRICA, OSTEOSPERMUM

A BUNCH OF GERANIUM SANGUINEUM IN FRONT OF THE POND, THEY BLOOM FOR A LONG TIME AND THEY ARE GOOD GROUNDCOVER

MY YELLOW DAHLIA GETS MORE AND MORE BLOOMS AND BUDS, IN THE BACK YOU SEE PART OF MY INDOOR CACTI AND SUCCULENT COLLECTION

ANOTHER SOUTH AFRICAN GUEST, TAGETES, THEY REALLY NEED THE SUN AND THE WARMTH TO TRIVE, AS YOU CAN SEE THESE PLANTS ARE STILL SMALL EVENTHOUGH I HAVE SOWN THESE BACK IN MARCH

SOME OF MY POTS

I hope you all had a lovely weekend ! Thanks for visiting my blog ! Have a great week and enjoy your garden !

WALK WITH ME

Today I took my camera and took a stroll through my garden to see what is going on. We are now in the middle of May and it is still cold, too cold for the time of the year and it has been raining for a few days now, that is good as the garden was bone dry. With the rain everything grew a bit and the garden is a lot greener than a few days back.

GERANIUM PHAEUM

ALLIUM URSINUM WITH A FEW SHOOTS OF MELISSA OFFICINALIS. THE ALLIUM LEAFS AND FLOWERS ARE LOVELY IN A GREEN SALAD AND FROM THE LEAFS OF THE MELISSA YOU CAN MAKE A LOVELY LEMON TEA, YOU TAKE A FEW LEAFS, POOR HOT WATER ON THEM AND LET IT BE FOR A FEW MINUTES, AND VOILA YOU HAVE A LOVELY HEALTHY TEA THAT TASTES LIKE LEMON TEA, OR YOU CAN ADD A FEW LEAFS TO YOUR ORDINARY TEA TO GIVE IT A LEMONY TASTE

THESE DAHLIA’S ARE WAITING FOR A PLACE IN THE GARDEN, THEY WERE IN THE GREENHOUSE FOR A WHILE BUT THEY ARE HARDENING OFF OUTSIDE AND THEY ARE ENJOYING THE RAIN

LOTS AND LOTS OF BUDS ON MY CLIMBING HYDRANGEA

THIS CUTIE WAS ENJOYING THE WET WEATHER TOO, I NEVER KILL THEM, I LET THE BIRDS IN THE GARDEN DO THEIR JOB AND THEY DO

MELISSA OFFICINALIS, GROWS LIKE MAD AND SELFSEEDS LIKE MAD BUT IS EASILY REMOVED, YOU CAN REMOVE THE FLOWERS BEFORE THEY SET SEEDS, THAT HELPS OFCOURSE, YOU CAN DRY THE LEAFS AND USE THEM IN POT-POURRI

FERNS UNFOLDING

THIS IS SYRINGA PALIBIN, A SMALLER VERSION OF THE SYRINGA VULGARIS, IT IS ONLY ABOUT 100-150 CM HIGH AND ACROSS, THE FLOWERS ARE SMALLER BUT THEY SMELL THE SAME, HERE YOU SEE THE BUDS

A VIEW OF THE FRESH NEW SHOOTS OF ONE OF MY HOSTA’S

ALCHEMILLA MOLLIS OR LADIES MANTLE

MY FIG TREE AT THE MOMENT

IT ALREADY HAS MANY SMALL FIGS

THIS IS HOW MY FIG TREE LOOKED LAST YEAR AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME, THIS WINTER I COVERED IT WITH THIN FLEECE TO PROTECT IT A BIT FROM THE COLD AND I LOVE THE RESULT !!!!!!

AND THE SHOW STOPPER IS MY NEW AEONIUM, I HOPE THE SUN WILL MAKE IT A LOT DARKER, I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A REAL SCHWARTZKOPF BUT I HOPE SO !THERE WAS NO NAME ON IT.

I hope I will soon be able to show you lots of flowers !

Enjoy your garden !