Very slight whiteness on big the lawn this morning, where there is less
tree canopy and shelter from the house. But it's another beautiful,
sunny, crisp day - just the sort of autumn day that is perfect. Just
looking from our bedroom window we have Romneya, Cimicifuga, Fuchsias,
Dahlias, Helianthus, Crinums, Salvias still flowering well.
--
Sacha

On 2009-09-25 09:36:21 +0100, Martin said:

On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:40:27 +0100, Sacha wrote:

Very slight whiteness on big the lawn this morning, where there is less
tree canopy and shelter from the house.

It's that cosmic cold radiation again & so soon.

;-0 I'm trying to persuade Ray to light the First Fire tonight. It's
as much for the pleasure of the sight and the scent, as anything else!
--
Sacha

On Sep 25, 2:12*pm, Sacha wrote:
On 2009-09-25 09:36:21 +0100, Martin said:

On Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:40:27 +0100, Sacha wrote:

Very slight whiteness on big the lawn this morning, where there is less
tree canopy and shelter from the house.

It's that cosmic cold radiation again & so soon.

;-0 *I'm trying to persuade Ray to light the First Fire tonight. *It's
as much for the pleasure of the sight and the scent, as anything else!
--
Sacha

It's lovely here during the day, quite hot but the evenings are a bit
cold. We had the log burner on a couple of times this week.

Judith

I work a few miles inland, close to a river and tidal marsh (AKA Soggy
Bottom) and although there was no indication of ground frost this
morning, grass temp was just 3C at 7am. Here the min was 10C so no
great chill here on the coast. I've noticed that the intensity of the
sun seems remarkably fierce so late in the year. I'm used to being
out in the sun all of the time, but the strength surprised me both
yesterday and today. As usual it clouded over this afternoon, but
seems to be clearing at the moment.

Just looking from our bedroom window we have Romneya, Cimicifuga, Fuchsias,
Dahlias, Helianthus, Crinums, Salvias still flowering well.

A big clump of Crinum moorei 'Album' is carrying about a dozen 5 foot
stems laden with 6" wide flowers, Hedychium 'Tara' (nudge, nudge) is
flowering again on secondary stems that shot up in August and H. sp.
Forrestii (hort.) is still out, spilling its faint, narcissus-like
scent into the air. Jasminum polyanthum is again smothered in red-
budded, large white flowers and the fragrance from that is almost
overpowering. I much prefer this to the more reliably hardy J.
officinale, which has much smaller flowers and a shorter flowering
season. Here it gets everywhere and roots into the ground whenever a
stem touches the soil. In a way it's a rampant nuisance, but it
really pays its rent and then some by being almost permanently in
flower.

Nerine bowdenii seems rather late this year and the sugar pink flower
buds are only now beginning to open a good month later than usual
It's been soundly beaten by a stunning, brick red sarniense hybrid
that has been out and looking very good for at least 10 days.
Normally a late October/early November bloomer, Nerine flexuosa 'Alba'
is also about to open and I'm very much looking forward to its
glistening, crystalline white flowers with crisped and wavy petals and
sepals.

Judith in France wrote:

It's lovely here during the day, quite hot but the evenings are a bit
cold. We had the log burner on a couple of times this week.


My outdoor tomatoes are starting to suffer a bit with the cold nights.
Spouse will be pleased when they die - I suggest tomatoes for lunch
every day and she's sick of the sight of them.

I grew the small tomatoes "sweet baby" variety. Supposed to grow between
three and five feet high. I just noticed one has escaped and is
competing with the virginia creeper on the house and is around ten feet
high. It optimistically has flowers on top.

--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted
by a filter and not reach my inbox.

On 2009-09-25 18:18:19 +0100, DaveP said:

I work a few miles inland, close to a river and tidal marsh (AKA Soggy
Bottom) and although there was no indication of ground frost this
morning, grass temp was just 3C at 7am. Here the min was 10C so no
great chill here on the coast. I've noticed that the intensity of the
sun seems remarkably fierce so late in the year. I'm used to being
out in the sun all of the time, but the strength surprised me both
yesterday and today. As usual it clouded over this afternoon, but
seems to be clearing at the moment.

Just looking from our bedroom window we have Romneya, Cimicifuga, Fuchsias,
Dahlias, Helianthus, Crinums, Salvias still flowering well.

A big clump of Crinum moorei 'Album' is carrying about a dozen 5 foot
stems laden with 6" wide flowers, Hedychium 'Tara' (nudge, nudge)

Oh, shurrup! ;-))

is
flowering again on secondary stems that shot up in August and H. sp.
Forrestii (hort.) is still out, spilling its faint, narcissus-like
scent into the air. Jasminum polyanthum is again smothered in red-
budded, large white flowers and the fragrance from that is almost
overpowering. I much prefer this to the more reliably hardy J.
officinale, which has much smaller flowers and a shorter flowering
season. Here it gets everywhere and roots into the ground whenever a
stem touches the soil. In a way it's a rampant nuisance, but it
really pays its rent and then some by being almost permanently in
flower.

Nerine bowdenii seems rather late this year and the sugar pink flower
buds are only now beginning to open a good month later than usual
It's been soundly beaten by a stunning, brick red sarniense hybrid
that has been out and looking very good for at least 10 days.
Normally a late October/early November bloomer, Nerine flexuosa 'Alba'
is also about to open and I'm very much looking forward to its
glistening, crystalline white flowers with crisped and wavy petals and
sepals.

It all sounds luscious but I like the sound of that white Nerine, David.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
Very slight whiteness on big the lawn this morning, where there is less
tree canopy and shelter from the house. But it's another beautiful,
sunny, crisp day - just the sort of autumn day that is perfect. Just
looking from our bedroom window we have Romneya, Cimicifuga, Fuchsias,
Dahlias, Helianthus, Crinums, Salvias still flowering well.
--
Sacha


Err....planning to go swimming in the sea next week.

The outdoor tomatoes are still growing and flowering and cropping like mad.
The lawn is still pretty scorched.

The bottom right hand side of the country seems to be in a completely
different climate at the moment - perhaps related to the jet stream?
[However, up in Derbyshire for my birthday, near where we used to live, and
it has been a glorious day :-) ]

If the hot weather would just last another month or so I might just get a
second crop off the fig tree (strangely, the first crop of only one fig
disappeared over night without trace).

I know autumn is looming because the trees are starting to change colour but
we are hanging on to summer like grim death and refuse to accept that it may
be over any time soon.
The only change seems to be that the mornings are a bit cloudy and the heat
doesn't come through untill mid-day.

Strange, because a few years back we spent a glorious holiday in November in
St. Ives and the Lost Gardens with sunny days and clear warm nights, so I
don't know why the south west is having worse weather this year.

My current problem is the lawn - usually this would be the time to seed any
bare patches and do the autum weed and feed but is is not yet growing
strongly enough.

Oh, well - no doubt all will be gray and soggy soon enough.

Treasure your autum frosts and mellow fruitfullness, but NIMBY!

Cheers

Dave R

Sacha wrote:

It all sounds luscious but I like the sound of that white Nerine, David.

It came from your nursery originally - Ray gave me a couple of bulbs a
few years ago. Come to think of it, so did the sarniense hybrid. Oh
and a surprise for me today was that I noticed Justicia (Jacobinia)
carnea (smooth leaved form with purplish leaf undersides) is about to
flower. That it came through last winter albeit with some damage is
surprising, but for it to recover enough to flower just a few weeks
later than normal is quite remarkable.

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
...

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
Very slight whiteness on big the lawn this morning, where there is less
tree canopy and shelter from the house. But it's another beautiful,
sunny, crisp day - just the sort of autumn day that is perfect. Just
looking from our bedroom window we have Romneya, Cimicifuga, Fuchsias,
Dahlias, Helianthus, Crinums, Salvias still flowering well.
--
Sacha


Err....planning to go swimming in the sea next week.

The outdoor tomatoes are still growing and flowering and cropping like
mad.
The lawn is still pretty scorched.

The bottom right hand side of the country seems to be in a completely
different climate at the moment - perhaps related to the jet stream?
[However, up in Derbyshire for my birthday, near where we used to live,
and it has been a glorious day :-) ]

If the hot weather would just last another month or so I might just get a
second crop off the fig tree (strangely, the first crop of only one fig
disappeared over night without trace).

I know autumn is looming because the trees are starting to change colour
but we are hanging on to summer like grim death and refuse to accept that
it may be over any time soon.
The only change seems to be that the mornings are a bit cloudy and the
heat doesn't come through untill mid-day.

Strange, because a few years back we spent a glorious holiday in November
in St. Ives and the Lost Gardens with sunny days and clear warm nights, so
I don't know why the south west is having worse weather this year.

My current problem is the lawn - usually this would be the time to seed
any bare patches and do the autum weed and feed but is is not yet growing
strongly enough.

Oh, well - no doubt all will be gray and soggy soon enough.

Treasure your autum frosts and mellow fruitfullness, but NIMBY!

It is ok for some! I made chicken soup last week...

O in North Yorkshire.

On 2009-09-26 23:13:42 +0100, DaveP said:

Sacha wrote:

It all sounds luscious but I like the sound of that white Nerine, David.

It came from your nursery originally - Ray gave me a couple of bulbs a
few years ago. Come to think of it, so did the sarniense hybrid. Oh
and a surprise for me today was that I noticed Justicia (Jacobinia)
carnea (smooth leaved form with purplish leaf undersides) is about to
flower. That it came through last winter albeit with some damage is
surprising, but for it to recover enough to flower just a few weeks
later than normal is quite remarkable.

Yes but we're not growing it in the garden! The Nerines we do have are
in precisely the wrong place, right at the back of the border under the
kitchen and office windows. I'm hoping that border is going to be
re-done this autumn and next spring because it needs a bit of
re-organisation. Is that the Justicia carnea that we sell as the dark
leaf form - must be, I should think. It's not something I can see
surviving here but who knows, maybe it's another that's worth a try in
a house border. We lost Salvia confertiflora in one of the garden
borders last winter, not really surprisingly but I want to re-plant it
because it's such a lovely late addition to the garden. And the Crambe
cordifolia behaved poorly this year - one clump flowered but the other
sent out huge leaves and no flowers, leaving a rather sparse effect.
The Amicia zygomeris has grown and is blooming well, a bit to our
surprise because we really thought that had gone for the chop in the
frost. I think it must have been well enough protected by the house
and the other things growing around it.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon

On Sep 27, 12:06*pm, Sacha wrote:
On 2009-09-26 23:13:42 +0100, DaveP said:

Sacha wrote:

Yes but we're not growing it in the garden! *

Ray did say he thought it was a bit tender. I have it in a pot so I
can keep it in the sun close to the house wall - too much shade for
too long in most parts of the garden.

*Is that the Justicia carnea that we sell as the dark
leaf form - must be, I should think. *It's not something I can see
surviving here but who knows, maybe it's another that's worth a try in
a house border. *

That's the one. It's a tropical shrub from Brazil and most commonly
grown as a pot plant. There are two types of carnea, one with the
smooth purplish leaves and deep pink flowers and the form with the
rather velvety, greyish leaves and paler flowers. The former is more
tender and I doubt it would survive on the edge of Dartmoor, so it is
best left under glass.

Back to that red Nerine, it's yet another gloriously sunny day and
I've just had a really close look at the flowers. The sepals and
petals have reflective, crystalline patches of glistening coppery red
that I've not noticed before. Absolutely stunning! On the red front:
the big Callistemon (citrinus 'Splendens') thinks it is spring and is
about to burst into a mass of vivid scarlet 'bottlebrushes' again.