Friday has come round quickly this week and here we are again joining with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday. It has been a busy week, mainly with the boring things like catching up with paper work and appointments. There have been fun tasks too like preparing for the Junior stitch group (JETS) which begins again tomorrow after a break during the summer. The volunteer helpers and I met last weekend to plan projects for the year and decide what resources we will need. It was a very productive meeting and we probably have enough ideas to keep us going well into 2018!
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This week has been very odd weather-wise. Monday to Wednesday were dull and cloudy but very hot and humid at the same time, most unpleasant. Yesterday morning we woke to sunshine and a much fresher feel so I headed outside in between fighting with the computer and printer.
My Five this week is the end of season colour in the garden.
1. Begonias
The begonias are wonderful. They flower all summer long and then when all the other annuals are starting to fade they get even bigger and better. I generally choose mixed colours and do not have any colour scheme in mind. So the pots are filled with riot of bright happy blooms that make me smile as soon as I come out of the house.
2. Rudbeckia
We had a very dry August here and our clay soil became very parched. I water the pots and baskets but never water the garden so the plants can suffer during hot, dry weather. It would be too difficult to water the whole garden (even though it is not very big) so I try to only grow the plants that can survive this harsh treatment. The Rudbeckia has struggled this year and has not produced as many flowers as previously, but although smaller, it is healthy and will hopefully do better next year.
3. Hydrangea
The weather has had an unusual effect on the hydrangeas too. The first flush of flowers in August faded quickly in the heat but since we have had some rain over the last two weeks a new crop of flowers has emerged. There are several Hydrangeas in the garden and they have all been affected the same way. They look rather odd (but strangely attractive) with a mixture of old and new blooms on them.
I love they way the petals fade and change colour. I like to collect some of the dried heads to create an Autumnal display indoors.
4. Sedum
The sedum flowers are still developing and are not fully out yet. The pink of the flower heads against the lime green of the leaves bring a lovely contrasting burst of colour. The bees and butterflies love the sedum and although there were no butterflies yesterday there were plenty of bees trying to work their way into the partially opened flowers.
5. Anemones
Anemones have to be my favourite plant at this time of year. No matter what the weather throws at them, wet summer, dry summer, wind, they always come up year after year and flower their socks off.
They look especially good with a blue sky background of course!
I always feel a little sad at this time of year as the summer fades because I dislike winter and the cold months. So end of season colour and days with bright blue skies would be very pleasant
......... if they could just keep going ..........
.........at least until the end of November please.
