The slightly nervous gardener...

[mrph]

This is the time of year when I get a bit worried about my plants, especially the new ones.

Pots get moved into the house and I start wondering about watering and light levels. Plants in the garden shed their leaves or simply wither away.

There will be some casualties. There always are - the welsh onions have rotted away in a waterlogged bed. Some of the thyme's gone much the same way. And the Szechuan pepper in the kitchen has gone from healthy to desiccated in about a day (or at least it feels that way...).

New perennials are always a particular concern. An autumn olive bush was planted out a couple of months back and I had a brief panic this week when leaves turned yellow and fell off. Surely it was an evergreen? Thankfully not. But I had to double check.

And then, on the other hand, there's the medlar tree... it looks spectacular. The dying leaves are splendidly autumnal, a fiery red / orange / yellow mix. It was planted this year and I won't get any fruit for a year or two.

But right now, I don't much care about that bit. I'm just happy to have something quite so striking in the garden at an otherwise bleak time.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Comments

[inulro.livejournal.com]

We planted Virginia Creeper for that very reason (and to cover up our hideous garden walls). It's quite spectacular at the moment.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ooh, interesting, can we see a photo of the medlar tree? I really like medlars, but I've never seen them growing.

Which reminds me, I must remember to look up whether basil is meant to die back in the winter. I suspect it is not, and that mine is extremely... ill.

garden vicissitudes

[auroramama]

The Rose family has such wonderfully ripe, fruity colors up its leafy sleeve. I love the way a young Bradford pear keeps the fire going deep into November. Cherry leaves can turn pale yellow, melon, peach, and rose-red, but they're done earlier than the pears.

Autumn olive does tend to keep some leaves into winter, but it doesn't need to.

Next spring I find out which perennials and shrubs didn't mind being undersea for a day or three.