Fiery Spires and Christmas Trees

The garden has changed. Its decidedly wintry. Its wet and its muddy.

 It was so quiet that we could hear the footballers in the next village of Icklesham.

But the biggest surprise awaited us.

What triggers a corm to decide to flower now. Amazing.

There is some colder weather coming so with that in mind I wanted to get the dahlias prepared.

They were looking very sorry for themselves.

 

But I did pick what I think, has to be the very last bunch.

The flowers are very pale in comparison to earlier in the season ... running out of steam .

I only managed one bed. There was an incredible amount of top growth. I was glad that we had empty compost heaps.

For those of you who follow this blog, you might remember that for the past few years we have left the tubers in the ground.  They were getting so big that I couldn`t lift them without assistance. And then one year after storing them in the polytunnel, we lifted the covers to reveal ..... well absolutely nothing left. Who knows what ate them all!

After cutting them down and clearing the surrounding surfaces, we covered them in carpet, held down by fence pieces and bricks. This has always worked in the past.
 

I still have the bed behind to do. And a few patches elsewhere in the garden. The frost will be here this week.

Steve harvested the very last peppers. The crops have been fantastic.

 

My last job was to clear half of this path, matted with Michaelnus daisies.

Paula also joined us and cleared quite a few dahlias herself.

Elsewhere round the garden there is some very interesting fungi appearing.

 

I`m not very good at identifying them.

My brother`s little potted Christmas tree has been well looked after by Steve who has watered it all summer. We have decided it needs to be repotted before it goes indoors.

 

And may I just leave you with this .... such a special sight in mid-November.

 

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