Leaves...
The Driveway
The so-called new leaf - it's time to turn it over. A most peculiar phrase, and not really garden-applicable. Have mooched through Winnie the dog's first post-operation week. No need to do this any more. All is OK.
Old and excessively plural!
In gardening terms, my new leaf is not new, nor singular, but old and excessively plural. Masses of fallen autumn leaves need to be raked off the lawns and bagged (for leaf mould) or dumped onto the garden beds.
I've had a great gardening weekend. I bagged up all the prunus leaves on the Driveway Lawn, just before Non-Gardening Partner arrived to mow it. I raked the lawns by the glasshouse, and cleared the path in the Pond Paddock. These last leaves were mixed in with dead cordyline leaves, so they went onto the bonfire.
I also burnt all the dead Phormium leaves which were stashed on the fence-line. It took ages, plodding back and forth carrying armfuls. Being thankful for my comfortable, sensible gardening boots!
Different autumn leaf colours are noticeable now. The Liquidambar tree (mine an older variety, not technicolour as the latest ones are), a couple of richly red maples, the last of the flowering cherries, and the gorgeous self-sown (oops) Berberis shrubs.
LiquidAmbar Tree
More oak leaves on the Pond Paddock need to be bagged up, as do the leaves which cover Duck Lawn. But I'm waiting for the rain (forecast much later tonight), otherwise the leaves are too difficult to handle. The fastigate oaks are finally colouring - an odd orange colour, have never noticed them before.
Tinsie Camellia
Early Camellias...
Plodding around on my leaf missions I've passed by several budding Camellias, reminding me that winter should be here by now. One, Tinsie, even has its very first tiny bloom.
Meanwhile, a daft coral rhododendron by the water's edge is trying to flower. The weather has been mild, so the garden must be confused.
My bonfiring progress has been extremely good. Four weeks until the solstice and most of the burnable rubbish underneath the hedges has been dragged out and burnt. Yeay for me! A most unpleasant task, and the less I speak about it the better.
On a more positive note, I haven't spread all my compost yet. It is going into the Hump Garden. My idea is to plant miniature Agapanthus clumps along the lawn edge of the Hump Garden and then replant some roses which are waiting in pots.