WORK

I have undertaken 20 hours work when the weather allowed.

FLOWERS

Pink Cyclamen in the bottom left hand corner- these are now spreading and seed from the original corms have taken 3 years to flower.

The mauve Michaelmas daisy clump gives a good show to the middle right hand bed at this time of year.

Pink Sedum on the pond gravel bed looked good with the pink impatiens and floppy purple Verbena 'Imagination' around the pond.

Cousin Martin's 'Royal Blue' Salvia flowered and was it vivid.

Pink Kafir lilies romped around the backdoor courtyard.

The heathers C G Best and the Daboecias are still flowering.

The sunflowers now have over 30 heads of flowers.

VEGETABLES

Autumn Bliss Raspberries - has been their best year and there are plenty in the freezer for Christmas dessert.

Some of the tomatoes ripened inside and the green ones have gone to be made into chutney for Lets members. Most got blight.

The wonderful sweetcorn were devoured by some creatures - I suspect the squirrels - they ate 7 and left me with 4. Fortunately we had quite a few before disaster struck.

WILDLIFE

The Birds had stripped the overhanging Rowan tree berries by mid September. All the usual birds had been sighted except any Starlings - I expect they go to other gardens providing ground scraps. Birds on the feeders have been treated to high energy sunflower hearts from C J Wild Bird Foods

Butterflies The mellow fruity smell of decaying fallen apples attracted a colourful host of Red Admirals. They also attracted the wasps and I had the misfortune of an insect dropping from within the tree down my neck. Not a pleasant experience.

GARDEN VISITS

Ann's Garden afternoon was very wet but we were all pleased for somewhere to go for some good company and a cup of tea. We braved the elements to look round the garden. A pot of Royal blue Salvias caught my attention. We always get lots of well grown plants as Ann is a superb plantswomen and has lots to distribute.

Joyce's Garden at Glapwell in Derbyshire - always a joy to visit and see the new additions. The weather was warm enough to sit on the seat and admire the borrowed landscape which now has horses grazing beyond the garden wall.