Leaves & Ixias

The leaves are hanging on  and coming down slowly and persistently. Here's a photo of the leaves on the grass on Saturday morning. We spent most of the day sweeping, hoovering and collecting via the lawn mower and filling two black compost "Daleks" with damp leaves which in a year or so will be lovely leaf mould.

Fallen leaves - mostly cherry, silver birch and maple and some from the big ash in the field.

The days have been a bit grey with thick fog in the morning and evening. But there are some bright spots. These lovely Ixias make a colourful show.  In the photo, the centre of the Ixia flower glows - it's not like that in real life - just picked up by the camera. Presumably this glow attracts bees and insects to pollinate. We have some lovely red tulips that keep the same glow for the bees and the camera. Ixias grow from small bulbs and they spread easily However, last year I saved the seeds from some of the Ixia flowers and they have germinated nicely. Hopefully some will be big enough to plant out to brighten up another spot in the garden next year.

Beautiful Ixias (Kaffir lilies?) brighten up the grey autumn.

The centre of the Ixia flower glows - shows up in a photo .

These tulips show their glow on camera - like the Ixias.

Autumn leaves

Suddenly everything is golden. The leaves on the trees - those that are still attached - are various shades of yellow, red and brown, but mostly bright, golden yellow. The big cherry tree has started to drop leaves, aided by the stiff breeze. The big ash that we were so worried about in the early summer is completely denuded. Now it's a playground for all kinds of birds as a staging post between the rowan berries in our neighbour's garden and the bright red berries on the big hawthorn tree in our hedge. Big fat wood-pigeons, crows, blackbirds and some smaller birds which I think are field-fares. There's also some very small birds - possibly long-tail tits which move so fast I can't identify them. They are fun to watch.

The leaves are so lovely I made a picture from some of the maple leaves.

Autumn leaves from the maple.

Grave digging

I'm not a fan of Will Self's poetry, but this piece about gardening as a reflection of our mortality made me smile.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34538014

Will's childhood experience in the garden - climbing trees and digging holes - is more like my gardening. I really enjoy just being out there with the bugs and birds and dirt. I'm not a decking person - I prefer to sit on the grass. Love growing veg and fruit because home-grown is pesticide-free and in any case I hate to shop. But everything else is really just watching what happens - and wonder.