Summer (Intermittently)

We're having a very cool wet summer. One day it only got up to 19℃ 66℉. Some nights we have the heater on. I feel bad about whining when people are enduring much worse elsewhere, bad floods up north, blizzards in the US, and the big freeze in Europe. But I must admit to feeling very sluggish and disinterested most of the time.

Just before Christmas my husband noticed a split down the trunk of our silk tree. We were able to get an arborist out to have a look and he tied it up and gave us instructions on how to screw it together, which my husband did a few weeks later.

The agapanthus are flowering.

Big snail, even bigger shadow.

Garden Update - Deciduous Trees

The birches, a mix of bought and self-seeded ones, are still a combination of green and gold.

The oldest Crepe Myrtle, 'Lipan', started changing colour later than the other two and is covered in orange leaves.

The second oldest Crepe Myrtle, I think it might be 'Biloxi' but I'll have to find the label, still has a reasonable covering of reddish orange leaves.

The newest Crepe Myrtle, possibly 'Sioux' but I'll have to check that, had the most wonderful red leaves. I was admiring them through the window for days but missed the opportunity to get a good photo of the tree with full coverage.

One of the three Trident Maples still has a good covering but it's definitely time to start raking.

The Japanese Maple has only just started changing colour.

The silk trees are slowly turning yellowish but the colour fades quickly. They also have a lot of seed pods.

The Chinese Pistachio is a wonderful glowing gold, which as far as I know is an unusual colour for the species. Ours has always been pinky orange, with an occasional branch tending towards yellow. I have seen many of these trees that are quite reddish. So this year's vivid gold is a surprise, though very beautiful.

More Autumn Trees

Our birches are only just turning yellow, though there are more advanced ones in the area.

The differences in our two oldest Trident Maples, planted at the same time, continue to be evident. One is wider, the other is narrow and slower growing. The wide one has more red in its autumn foliage, the narrow one is more yellow.

Autumn Trees

It's that time of year when I wonder if I could find space for a few more trees. Here are our Trident Maple, Crepe Myrtle and Chinese Pistachio putting on a magnificent show.