My Cottage Garden,..glengarry23.

All my Pelorgoniums are in the greenhouse now and still producing blooms and its always sad to cut them back but best to do so now,..sometimes i shake all the soil off and hang them from the rafters in my shed,..other times i have shaken off the soil and placed them in brown paper bags hung from the rafters,..either way i only have about one fatality over the Winter.



Plectranthus madagascariensis 'Variegated Mintleaf'



Captured a clear image of my Clematis 'Freckles',..it blooms best late Autumn and into Winter.



One of those Volunteer Plants,..some sort of Vine and it reached approx 3 Metres high,..producing small white flowers then the fruits?,..it grew with seeds from abroad.





I'm thinking,...........



The Seed Ball from the 'Voodoo Lily'

 

Watch out in case it is one of the wild Solanums / Nightshades,but guess you'd know what! Nice to meet you.

 

I have only just seen this @glengarry23 , your visitor is a male Sparrowhawk with the orange barred breast, you may see a female one day which has a grey barred breast and slightly larger.

 

Thanks @strongylodon. I'm wrong again. I've seen Buzzards at close range as there's quite a few around here. I've also seen Sparrowhawks, so perhaps I need to get my eyes tested again.

 

@strongylodon ,..thank you for that information much appreciated,..thank you also @Sheal for alerting @strongylodon

Philip

 

Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' ,..Black Mondo Grass.



A complete contrast are the images below,..these were some of the blooms on a Sunflower that grew among seeds sent from New Mexico,..i seldom cut flowers for myself but as the plant was fading i rescued the blooms.






I had just left the bag on the floor for approx 30 mins and 'Whisper' moved in.








Spot a face?



Some people can make out 2 faces.

 

'Whisper',..keeping the rose bush warm.



Not a comfortable spot either.


It is warm inside.



Seed Pods from the Amaryllis 'Royal Red',..some of the seeds in transit to England.



My Parsley,..all that's left of my edibles.

 

Gardens in Leicestershire,..i went there on a two week visit and naturally i wanted to see English gardens,..Householders Gardens for a change and was amazed at the beautiful blooms from gardens big and small,..nearly all were front gardens.

 

Thank you Philip for sharing lovely memories. Reminds me of the area I lived, near Thame, Oxfordshire. Who is the lovely lady with the dogs, Irish Wolfhounds?

 

@Victoria ,..delighted you liked that video,..the Lady is Tracy,..she dabbles in paints so you would have something in common there,.. the interior of the house in the video was hers,..she has now moved to Devon,..we met on a 'Doggy Forum',..then some time later i invited her on a holiday to Spain when i was going with other friends i had invited from America,..so there were five of us,..1 from England,..1 from Indiana,..America,..2 from Utah,..America and of course 1 from Ireland,..quite a mix,..i had had an invite by the Americans to come to Indiana and then Utah,..they took time to give me a tour,..i had booked into Hotels so nobody was inconvenienced by my visit,..it was a fantastic Month,..they really gave me the Tour,..so to reward them i invited them on a free holiday including flights,..it was another great holiday.

It didn't end there of course,..i went to visit Tracy then was back and forth to America.

Oh Tracy likes me to call her Dogs 'Scottish Deerhounds'.

 

So seeing i am waiting for something to bloom in the garden i will continue the Holiday mood.

 

Cats seem attracted to either my garden or its me and at one time there were 12 cats visiting every day,..the Hedgehogs just ignored them and the cats were just curious about them.

Then everything changed with the visit of a huge Tomcat,..he of course was after the females and fights would break out every night,..residents complained that they couldn't get him to move he would defy them and stand his ground,..i thought if i am unable to scare him off then i might as well join him,..befriend him,..it took 3 Months before he would come to me for food and a tad longer before he allowed me to stroke him.

He sired some kittens,..lo and behold i often found him lying with the kittens while the mother cat had gone walkies,..one of his kittens is alive to this day as i gave it to a friend further out in the sticks,..it looks as fierce and as big as its Dad.



















With his kittens.



His big Son.



Hissing at me in the early days.

 

Looks as if he's smiling for the camera in the 2nd to last pic @glengarry23

 

@Upsydaisy ,..your right it looks like a smile lol,..at that time i remember thinking,..is he just waiting for me to stretch my hand towards him then going to take a swipe at me with that outstretched paw,..i didn't venture any further.

I only have one Cat left,..someone fed them poison while i was away on holiday in America which killed all bar two.