Wonderful wildlife!
There’s a nip in the air first thing in the morning now and, along with river mist swirling around the adjoining farmland, it makes for an atmospheric start to the day. Locally, this is referred to as a ‘hop picker’s morning’, albeit the nearest hop yards are around 15 miles away! Wildlife is always important in our garden and I’m currently enjoying watching squirrels collecting acorns and nuts. I watch them from the kitchen window as they dig a small hole in the lawn, popping in an acorn and then carefully patting the earth back down. All the usual songbirds live in and around the garden and we hear buzzards overhead daily at this time of year. Imagine my surprise recently when I looked out of the kitchen window and saw a buzzard on a conifer stump, literally feet from the house with a rabbit it had caught. As it flew off it dropped its meal making the cat jump! Before returning to college our younger son spent an afternoon tidying up some of the box and lonicera bushes. He made a beautiful job of trimming cones and balls and, even better, he tidied up all the clippings! He even looked at a straggly lonicera bush and decided he could trim it into a peacock shape – we’re thrilled with it. There’s still plenty to enjoy in the garden. Aster ‘Harrington’s Pink’ has been flowering for weeks as has penstemon ‘Bodnant’ which is one of my favourites. I’ve taken plenty of cuttings of this and also from salvia ‘Amistad’, which are all growing strongly. Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ is another favourite and Hydrangea paniculata ‘Pink Diamond’ is growing well in the orchard.
Tales from a Country Garden 