Going.....

Going.....

Gone!

New bark

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Local Nature Reserve

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This is the star at the moment….and hard to miss.

Ginko biloba

The leaves at the top have already started to fall.

Ginko biloba

It is not the sun but it does a fine imitation.

Ginko biloba

Almost all the original  green colour has disappeared….and soon the remaining leaves will fall to the ground.

Ginko biloba

Thank you Mr Ginko for bringing extra sunshine into my garden. You deserve an award.

Wet, wet, wet!

With weather like this  it any wonder that I never get any ripe olives.

Olive

At least the raindrops look pretty. This Aeonium has grown too large to move undercover so it is being left outside to take its chances. I have got rooted cuttings for next year as I don’t really expect it to survive the winter. It has lost a number of its branches as the Squirrels keep running up them in an attempt to reach the bird feeders.

Aeonium arboreum

Yes, the Squirrels are back in the garden….let battle commence.

Some flowers are fading.

Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldsturm'

Some flowers are seeding.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Acanthus spinosus

Berries are appearing.

Pyracantha 'Teton'

Late fruits.

Chaenomeles x superba 'Nicoline' (Quince)

Coloured foliage.

Jasminum officinale 'Clotted Cream'

Coloured bark. I know I have shown pictures of this before but I can’t resist doing it again.

Eucalyptus parviflolia and beautiful bark

My tender plants are saying “Take me into the greenhouse. I am way past my best. Look at my hair!”

Strelitzia reginae (Bird of Paradise)

With all these signs of Autumn it is a surprise to see this little plant. He thinks it is Spring. He is in for a shock!

Primula 'Corporal Baxter'

Thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday.

Visit her to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

There are flowers which are starting to bloom.

Crocosmia 'Star Of The East'

Angelica 'Ebony'

Others which have been flowering off and on for many months.

Geranium sylvaticum 'Amy Doncaster'

Rosa 'Zephrine Drouhin'

Some tender plants in pots providing an extra touch of colour.

Pelargonium 'Shannon'

Fuchsia 'Lena'

Osteospermum

Finally, a change from flowers – a tree which is shedding its bark! My Eucalyptus does this every August. It reminds me of a snake shedding its skin.  I usually collect the strips of bark and pile them in a corner of the garden where they become a home for wildlife.

The new bark gradually turns a pale silvery white and is very attractive.

Eucalyptus parviflolia

Thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday.

Visit her to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

Clematis 'John Treasure' amongst the Olive tree flowers

Unfortunately the other 27 flowers are at the top of the tree. I will have to get the binoculars out if I want to see them. Click on the picture and you can just make them out.

Clematis 'John Treasure' way up high

Plants can be irritating at times.

Ilex flowering

Today I noticed it was flowering. I usually miss the flowers as the foliage is variegated so they do not show up very well. I’m thinking that this is a female tree because it has such lovely pinkish white flowers. Male trees must have flowers too, but not as pretty and dainty as these.

Then I remember I am now a blogger with nothing better to do, so I Google “Ilex + flowers”. I discover that Ilex trees are mostly dioecious – they have separate male and female trees, each with their own flowers  – I knew that already! Then I look at the pictures of male and female flowers.

Would you believe it, mine is a Mr not a Mrs. If you click on the picture you can see that each flower has four stamens sticking out, showing it is male. Female flowers would lack the stamens and the centre of the flower would later swell to become a berry. I will never get berries…ever…unless I buy a female tree.

Have I got room for a tree? Stop…..please don’t go there.

Buy a book about trees instead.

We then moved into South London and happened to walk through a small, rather neglected  park. There was a stone commemorating Lord Nelson the British Admiral  who led a fleet against Napoleon and defeated him in 1805, dying in the process. No……I am not going to talk  about British naval history either.

Lord Nelson

In the park we saw this tree which appeared to have green flowers.

Elm tree?

There were four of us, three of us gardeners but we couldn’t identify it.  Back home I searched for trees with green flowers and drew a blank. At the time we wondered if they were seeds rather than flowers but had to admit we were baffled.

Green seeds pretending to be flowers?

Now I’m guessing it is some kind of Elm tree (Ulmus), a  tree that does have this kind of seed casing. The English elm (Ulmus procera) was devastated by Dutch Elm disease in the 1970′s so I’m wondering if this is some sort of hybrid. We should have taken a picture of the bark too but forgot. Does anyone know what it is?

It was amusing that, having decided at a distance that these were green flowers, we found it difficult to believe they weren’t. Thinking back  I could see the dot of a seed inside each little “petal”. The mind works in mysterious ways (lol)

Not easily obtainable at your average garden centre.

Scaffoldus metallica incana

We are having the house roof re-tiled.