Frost has arrived!

The cold weather arrived rather quickly so it was a great rush to get everything covered

and cut back so I could put the frames up

to offer some protection to the palms

that I have in the garden.

Although I probably didn't need to rush quite as much, it is far easier to push the poles into none frozen ground than it is to push it into frozen ground.

We have already had a -5C, but at this time of years it usually goes down and comes back up quite quickly so no time for any damage to occur.

I have dug out a lot of my dahlias this year especially some of my favourites. They are all now potted up in dry compost and being kept in a frost free greenhouse.

We have had our wood delivered, so we are ready here as well.

The greenhouse is a little empty this year, compared to previous years that is. I have cut back on the amount of Ensete's  I am keeping. Now hubby can't help as much in the digging out I have tried to buy more 'hardier' plants. I have also been very pleased with m seed grown plants this year so have decided to fill gaps with these as some can grow to the most amazing sizes in one season.

 On the heat mat (which is not switched on) are my carnivorous plants and quite a few cuttings I have taken this year.

A number of palms Cycas Revoluta, Washington Robusta the larger thread palm which are not as hardy and two new plants which are hardy but I am being kind to them this year.

The Agave and succulents have reduced quite considerably.

Lobelia Tupa and a Hardy Tomato being over wintered in here too.

In the garden, I am surprised by what has and what hasn't been affected by the frosts we have had, which have been more or less on a daily basis since last weekend.

The 'TRex' is beginning to wilt.

A Ricinus has definitely collapsed.

As has the fig.

One of the big surprises to me is the Solonum Laciniatum which is grown from seed and has easily hit over 8ft has not been affected by the frosts.

No wilt to be seen on the leaves at all. I am going to leave it and see how long it lasts. Where as right next to it is

The Hardy tomato has totally gone.

Meanwhile the Cypomandra corymbifolia has also come through totally unaffected, so far! Apparently this is a hardy tree tomato from the Andes mountains and can take -10C, we will see. Last year I over wintered this in the greenhouse and had the most awful infestation of whitefly. It has got so big this year that I decided to leave it out.

Till next time x

Wind Blown!

We may be having or going to have another wind blown autumn. First ex hurricane Ophelia hit, mainly Ireland but the affect on us was more in the colour of the sky and sun.

The sky turned an amazingly warm colour, the sun went from yellow through orange then red to pink. The next pic was taken by me and to be honest does not do the colours justice. It reminded me of when we had the partial eclipse a few years ago,

The following pic I pinched from the BBC website which shows a better colour.

This was all due to the sand Ophelia had picked up from the Sahara!

Then with in a few days, along came 'Storm Brian' (pic from of a friend on Facebook) now Brian has been very blustery for us personally.

This got me thinking, our storms our named and go in alphabetical order so when was Storm Aileen? Apparently it was around September 12th. I must have missed it, September was pretty full on here!

Its probably a bit early but we have covered the Arid bed.

It was a matter of having too, as again I have a hectic couple of weeks and had the weather changed I would have been caught on the hope. So in good Girl Guide fashion 'Be Prepared'!

I have also had a wood delivery, half the load we had last year. Though it still looks a lot.

But once in the log store you can see quite a difference this was last year a good couple of hours work which I did all alone.

Compared with this, which was done with the help of my daughter and her husband and took about 30 mins!

A bit more manageable and easier to keep dry!

Back to the topic of this blog post 'Wind Blown'  here are a few pics

Till later, take care x